of 
4  4 (California 


R  A  * 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


c  MAKERS   OF   AMERICA  : 


ROBERT  FULTON 


HIS    LIFE    AND    ITS    RESULTS 


BY 


ROBERT   H.   THURSTON 

\    | 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,    MEAD,   AND    COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1891, 
DODD,  MEAD,  AND  Co. 
All  rights  reserved. 


SPRECKELS 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    OLD     LEGENDS.  —  STEAM     IN     EARLIER 

TIMES.  —  JAMES   WATT i 

II.    EARLY  EXPERIMENTS  IN  STEAM-NAVIGA- 
TION     28 

III.  ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE  ....  48 

IV.  THE  ARTIST  AS  ENGINEER 60 

V.    THE  ENGINEER,  AS   INVENTOR,  IN   SUB- 
MARINE WARFARE 69 

VI.     FULTON'S  EXPERIMENTS  WITH  STEAM.— 

THE  "  CLERMONT  " 101 

VII.    RIVER  AND  OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS  ...  146 

VIII.    OCEAN  STEAMERS.  — THE  OUTLOOK    .    .  167 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 


ROBERT     FULTON. 


i. 

OLD   LEGENDS. STEAM   IN   EARLIER   TIMES. 

JAMES   WATT. 

ROBERT  FULTON  has  often,  if  not  generally,  been 
assumed  to  haye  been  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat, 
as  Watt  is  generally  supposed  to  be  the  inventor  of 
the  steam-engine,  which  constitutes  its  motive  ap- 
paratus. But  this  notion  is  quite  incorrect.  The 
invention  of  the  steam-engine  and  that  of  the  steam- 
boat alike  are  the  results  of  the  inventive  genius,  not 
of  any  one  man  or  of  any  dozen  men,  but  have  been 
the  outcome  of  the  inventive  powers  of  the  human 
race,  exerted  at  intervals  throughout  the  whole  period 
of  recorded  history.  An  invention  is  usually,  or  is 
at  least  assumed  to  be,  the  product  of  the  genius  of 
some  great  mechanic,  acting,  as  did  the  genii  of  old, 
by  a  single  effort  of  the  mysterious  power.  In  this 
sense  of  the  word,  the  steam-engine  was  never  in- 
vented ;  rather  it  is  the  culmination  of  a  long  series 
of  inventions  of  detail,  and  of  improvements  upon 
the  earliest  crude  conceptions,  and  is  the  product  of 
growth  in  a  definite  direction,  and  toward  a  now  well- 
defined  end.  But  while  Fulton  was  not  the  inventor 
of  the  steamboat,  and  while  James  Watt  was  not  the 


2  ROBERT  FULTON. 

inventor  of  the  steam-engine,  in  a  proper  sense,  it 
is  the  unquestionable  fact  that  the  latter  was  the  first 
to  secure  a  general  introduction  of  the  machine  into 
practical  use ;  and  the  former  was  the  first  to  make 
the  steamboat  a  commercial  success,  and  to  make 
its  ultimate  and  permanent  employment  for  marine 
transportation  sure.  As  an  inventor,  Fulton  accom- 
plished far  less  than  Watt ;  in  fact,  he  did  compara- 
tively little  in  this  realm  of  intellect.  Watt  invented 
many  improvements  of  the  steam-engine,  and  left  it 
in  vastly  better  form  than  when  he  found  it,  as  it  came 
from  the  hands  of  his  predecessors,  Newcomen  and 
Galley.  He  gave  the  already  well-shaped  machine 
the  separate  condenser,  the  steam-jacket,  the  double- 
acting  form,  the  rotative  type,  the  expansive  system, 
the  governor,  and  the  "  engineer's  stethoscope,"  — 
the  indicator.  Fulton  did  nothing  to  modify  the 
engine,  or  to  improve  the  steamboat  even.  He  simply 
took  the  products  of  the  genius  of  other  mechanics, 
and  set  them  at  work,  in  combination,  and  then  ap- 
plied the  already  known  steamboat,  in  his  more  satis- 
factorily proportioned  form,  to  a  variety  of  useful 
purposes,  and  with  final  success.  It  is  this  which 
constitutes  Fulton's  claim  upon  the  gratitude  and  the 
remembrance  of  the  nations.  And  it  is  quite  enough. 
The  knowledge  of  the  expansive  power  of  steam 
was  of  earlier  date  than  the  Christian  era ;  forms  of 
steam-engine  antedated  Watt  by  two  thousand  years ; 
the  modern  type  of  steam-engine  was  the  invention 
of  Newcomen  rather  than  of  Watt,  and  preceded  that 
famous  improver  by  nearly  a  century ;  the  steamboat 


OLD  LEGENDS.  3 

was  said  to  have  been  constructed  by  several  inven- 
tors long  before  the  world  witnessed  the  birth  of 
Fulton ;  other  inventors  had  built  and  successfully 
operated  steamboats  with  paddles,  other  boats  with 
wheels,  steam-vessels  with  screws,  long  before  Fulton 
entered  upon  his  great  and  glorious  career.  The 
simple  fact  is,  therefore,  as  already  indicated,  that, 
like  all  really  great  and  important  inventions,  these 
were  the  final  fruition  of  minute  germs  of  invention 
in  earlier  centuries,  growing  and  gaining,  century  by 
century,  throughout  long  periods  of  time.  The  fa- 
mous inventor  is  usually  he  who  in  the  end  brings 
into  full  bearing  the  hitherto  unknown  and  unnoticed 
invention,  —  he  who  at  last  makes  it  useful  to  man- 
kind. This  last  was  the  mission  of  Fulton ;  and  it  is  this 
which  has  entitled  him  to  all  the  credit  as  an  engineer, 
and  all  the  fame,  which  has  been  indisputably  his. 

Before  taking  up  our  study  of  the  life  of  Fulton, 
and  of  its  magnificent  results,  as  already  exhibited 
after  less  than  a  century  has  passed,  it  will  be  both 
interesting  and  profitable  to  review  the  past,  and 
learn,  as  well  as  history  permits,  the  details  of  that 
growth  which  has  led  us  finally  to  such  wonderful 
fruition.  In  doing  so,  we  will  follow  the  thread  of 
the  narrative  as  it  has  already  been  given  by  the 
author  in  a  more  formal  treatise.1 

A  rapid  summary  of  the  facts,  and  a  study  of  their 
relations  to  our  subject,  beginning  with  earliest  his- 
tory, and  following  this  development  up  to  the  time 
of  Fulton,  will  enable  us  to  more  intelligently  and 

1  History  of  the  Growth  of  the  Steam-Engine,  by  R.  H 
Thurston.  New  York.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  1878. 


4  ROBERT  FULTON. 

satisfactorily  weigh  our  debt  to  that  great  man,  and 
measure  the  obligation  of  the  world,  and  especially 
of  his  own  country. 

The  knowledge  of  the  latent  power  of  steam  prob- 
ably antedates  history ;  rude  forms  of  apparatus  for 
utilizing  that  force  are  described  in  the  earliest  of 
ancient  works ;  yet  the  invention  of  a  steam-engine, 
in  the  proper  sense  of  that  term,  only  took  place 
within  two  centuries,  and  the  steam-engine  of  the 
present  time  has  been  the  outcome  of  a  succession  of 
inventions  and  improvements  which  are  only  now 
culminating  in  the  production  of  an  engine  which 
science  indicates  to  be  that  which  must  be  regarded 
as  the  final  form  of  that  remarkable  motor.  The 
principles  of  its  construction,  and  especially  those  of 
its  operation,  are  now  well  understood,  and  all  its 
faults  and  wastes  of  either  heat-energy  or  mechanical 
power  are  known  and  measured,  their  causes  ascer- 
tained, and,  in  a  general  way,  their  methods  of  rem- 
edy determined.  We  are  now  gradually  overcoming 
the  practical  obstacles  to  the  reduction  of  the  machine 
to  the  best  possible  proportions,  and  its  plan  to  the 
ideal  form.  The  history  of  the  steam-engine  is  ex- 
ceedingly interesting,  and  to  the  philosopher  especially 
so,  as  illustrating  the  fact  that  "  great  inventions  are 
rarely  the  work  of  any  one  mind,"  but  are  "  either 
an  aggregation  of  minor  inventions  or  the  final  step 
of  a  progression ;  "  "  not  a  creation,  but  a  growth,  — 
as  truly  so  as  that  of  the  trees  in  the  forest."  1 

1  History  of  the  Growth  of  the  Steam-Engine,  by  R.  H. 
Thurston.  New  York.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  (International 
Series.) 


OLD  LEGENDS. 


The  first  account  of  what  has  been  termed  the 
germ  of  the  steam-engine  appears  in  the  works  of 
Hero  the  Younger,  who  lived,  as  is  supposed,  in  the 
second  century  before  Christ,  at  Alexandria,  in  Egypt. 
In  his  "  Pneumatica "  he  describes  a  multitude  of 
devices,  some  of 
them  very  ingenious, 
but  mainly  mere  toys, 
in  which  the  heat- 
energy  of  fire,  or  of 
the  sun,  is  applied  for 
transformation  into 
mechanical  power 
through  the  interme- 
diary of  steam.  He 
shows  several  forms 
of  fountain,  now 
known  as  the  Hero 
fountain ;  contrivan- 
ces for  opening  tem- 
ple doors  by  steam ; 
musical  instruments, 

—  at  least,  so  called, 

—  and  other  such  un- 
important trifles.     Amongst  this  collection  of  curious 
illustrations   of   the  non-utilitarian    character    of   the 
Greek  civilization,  is  found  a  real  steam-engine,  such 
as  is  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  engraving.1 

The  picture   here   given  is  a   modern  and    highly 

1  Thurston's  Manual  of  the  Steam-Boiler,  p.  2.     New  York. 
J.  Wiley  &  Sons.     1890. 


Fig.  r.  —  Hero's  Steam-Engine. 


6  ROBERT  FULTON. 

ornamented  reproduction  of  Hero's  machine,  which 
is  earliest  shown  in  Stuart's  "  History  of  the  Steam- 
Engine,"  1829,  and  reproduced  by  the  author  in 
later  publications.  Curiously  enough,  this  little  ma- 
chine, which  has  often  been  reproduced,  unwittingly, 
by  modern  inventors,  and  actually  used  with  a  fair 
degree  of  satisfaction,  illustrates  a  form  of  engine 
which  is  "  theoretically,"  ideally  perfect.  Its  opera- 
tion under  the  theoretically  best  conditions,  assum- 
ing it  made  with  similar  perfection  and  to  be  free 
from  friction-wastes,  would  give  highest  possible  effi- 
ciency and  economy  in  the  use  of  steam.  But  this 
would  involve  its  operation  at  inapproachable  veloci- 
ties and  the  impracticable  condition  of  being  friction- 
less  ;  nevertheless,  it  is  perfectly  possible  to  secure 
such  favourable  conditions  in  practice  as  will  make  a 
fairly  economical  machine,  when  placed  in  comparison 
with  the  forms  of  engine  which  modern  invention  has 
produced.  Its  action  is  simple  and  easily  seen. 
Steam  is  made  in  the  boiler  which  forms  its  base,  and 
passes  up  through  one  or  both  of  the  hollow  support- 
ing columns  or  pipes,  entering  the  axis  of  the  whirl- 
ing globe,  filling  it  at  a  pressure  determined  by  the 
rate  at  which  steam  is  formed ;  and  it  is  then  ex- 
panded, finally  issuing  from  the  projecting  arms  or 
ajutages,  and  by  its  reaction  turning  the  globe  with 
considerable  force  and  at  high  speed.  Modern  en- 
gines of  this  construction  have  been  used  quite  suc- 
cessfully in  driving  factories  and  mills,  and  have  been 
found  to  use  no  very  extravagant  amount  of  steam ; 
but  have  finally  been  thrown  out,  on  account,  mainly, 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  7 

of  their  cost  for  repairs ;  the  whirling  arms  being  usu- 
ally rapidly  cut  away  by  their  swift  passage  through 
the  steam-laden  atmosphere  in  which  they  necessarily 
work.  Ideally,  the  machine  is  an  "  expansion- 
engine  "  of  the  most  perfect  type. 

From  the  days  of  Hero,  however,  nothing  more  is 
heard  of  the  use  of  steam  in  any  apparatus,  nor  is 
any  machine  produced  capable  of  doing  work  in  that 
manner.  All  through  the  early  and  the  middle  ages 
the  force  of  confined  steam  and  other  vapours  is  evi- 
dently known,  but  no  attempt  that  may  be  regarded 
as  at  all  serious  was  made  to  utilize  its  latent  power. 
Little  "  aeolipile.s  "  —  vessels  in  which  steam  was  pro- 
duced and  from  which  it  issued  in  a  jet  which  was 
sometimes  employed  to  cause  an  induced  current  of 
air  with  which  to  blow  the  fire  —  were  the  only  steam- 
engines,  until,  about  the  sixteenth  century,  it  seems  to 
have  been  suspected  by  one  or  another  of  the  wool- 
gathering philosophers  and  the  plodding  mechanics  of 
those  days  that  steam  had  a  somewhat  higher  mis- 
sion. At  about  the  end  of  that  century  and  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth,  we  find  records  of 
various  contrivances,  in  the  application  of  steam  to 
useful  purposes,  which  indicate  that  at  last  the 
minds  of  men  were  awakening  to  the  consideration  of 
the  problem  of  the  centuries.  These  inventions,  if 
it  can  be  said,  fairly,  that  they  were  inventions, 
were  commonly  directed  to  the  application  of 
the  force  of  confined  steam  to  the  raising  of  water 
through  considerable  heights,  as  in  the  draining 
of  mines,  or  in  furnishing  a  house-supply.  Da  Porta, 


8  ROBERT  FULTON. 

in  1 60 1,  De  Caus  in  1605  to  1615,  and  Branca, 
1629,  were  among  those  who  began  to  suggest,  rather 
than  to  practise,  the  application  of  steam  to  useful 
work.  The  first  two  pictured  contrivances  for  raising 
water,  which  were,  however,  but  distant  imitations 
of  the  notions  of  Hero ;  while  the  last-named  gave 
drawings,  with  some  elaboration,  of  machines,  by  the 
action  of  steam-jets,  usually  impinging  against  vanes, 
driving  mills  and  metallurgical  machinery. 

At  about  the  latter  time,  the  second  Marquis  of 
Worcester  began  his  now  famous  career  of  invention, 
and  probably  as  early  as  1630  had  devised  what  is 
known  as  his  "engine"  or  his  "fire-engine;"  a 
machine,  however,  which  was  really  but  the  Hero 
fountain  on  an  enlarged  and  somewhat  more  practi- 
cally available  scale,  and  in  better  form.  He  did 
apply  it  to  its  purpose  of  raising  water,  though ;  and 
this  constitutes  for  him  a  legitimate  and  sufficient 
claim  for  remembrance  and  honour.  He  was  the 
first  to  use  steam  —  so  far  as  is  positively  known  — 
for  industrial  ends.  It  is  known  that  he  was  engaged 
in  erecting  an  engine  at  least  as  early  as  1648,  but 
his  patents  were  only  issued  in  1663.  It  seems  very 
certain  that  the  marquis  built  two  or  more  of  these 
"fire-engines;"  but  their  exact  form  is  unknown, 
and  it  is  only  certain  that  he  profited  nothing  by  his 
ingenuity  and  enterprise.  He  finally  died  unsuccess- 
ful and  in  comparative  poverty.  His  widow  was  as 
unhappy  and  unfortunate  as  her  husband,  and  died  in 
1 68 1  without  having  gained  a  foothold  for  her  spouse's 
invention. 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  9 

The  death  of  this  truly  great  man,  inventor  and 
statesman  as  he  was,  in  the  highest  sense,  did  not, 
however,  put  an  end  to  the  progress  which  he  had 
initiated.  His  friend  and  successor  in  this  work,  Sir 
Samuel  Morland,  made  himself  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  subject,  secured  opportunities  to  construct 
a  number  of  such  engines,  and  became  so  well  in- 
formed as  to  their  capabilities  that  he  published  an 
account  of  the  apparatus,  in  which  paper  he  intro- 
duced tables  of  the  number  and  sizes  of  the  working 
cylinders  required  to  raise  given  quantities  of  water  to 
specified  heights  in  stated  times  ;  thus,  for  the  first  time, 
constructing  the  now  usual  specifications  for  use  in  de- 
termining the  requirements  of  purchasers.  Yet  neither 
the  machines  of  Worcester  nor  those  of  Morland  be- 
came generally  used.  These  men  were  in  advance 
of  their  time ;  and  it  was  only  when,  some  years 
later,  Captain  Savery,  —  a  man  of  talent  both  as  an 
engineer  and  a  man  of  business,  whose  character 
united  all  the  elements  of  success  in  practical  opera- 
tions, —  took  up  the  task  that  it  became  in  any  degree 
a  commercial  success.  Very  little  is  known  in  detail 
of  the  experiments  or  of  the  constructions  of  the 
Marquis  of  Worcester ;  and  that  absorbing  romance 
by  George  Macdonald,  "  St.  George  and  St.  Michael," 
may  perhaps  be  taken  as  quite  as  authoritative  as  any 
biography,  so  far  as  such  minor  details  are  concerned ; 
but  the  work  of  Savery,  nearly  a  half- century  later, 
came  within  the  range  of  modern  history,  and  is  well 
understood. 

When   Savery  took  up   the  new  problem,  at   the 


10  ROBERT  FULTON. 

opening  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  mines  of  Great 
Britain  had  become,  in  many  instances,  so  deep  that 
the  labour  of  freeing  them  from  water  was  an  enor- 
mously difficult  and  expensive  task  with  the  means  and 
apparatus  at  the  disposition  of  the  mine- owners. 
They  had  rude  forms  of  pump  worked  by  horse-power 
almost  exclusively ;  and  in  the  older  and  more  exten- 
sive mines,  hundreds  of  horses  were  sometimes  kept 
at  work,  and  the  profits  of  mining  were  becoming  daily 
less  and  less,  and  seemed  likely  to  be  soon  ex- 
tinguished by  this  great  tax  on  production.  Worces- 
ter and  his  contemporaries  had  seen  this  threatening 
outlook,  and  were  apprehensive  that  Britain  might 
soon  lose  that  supremacy,  industrially,  which  she  had, 
in  consequence  of  her  success  in  mining,  up  to  chat 
time  so  firmly  held.  They  had,  in  many  cases,  looked 
to  steam  or  some  as  yet  undiscovered  motor  to  do 
this  work  more  cheaply  than  horse-power ;  but  even 
Worcester  and  Morland  failed  to  make  practically 
useful  application  of  the  new  "  fire- engine."  Savery, 
familiar  with  the  business  of  mining,  a  mechanic  by 
experience  and  practice  as  well  as  by  nature,  not  only 
saw  the  opportunity,  but  saw  also  a  way  to  secure  a 
prize.  He  made  a  workmanlike  reproduction  of  the 
Worcester  machine,  giving  it  a  form  capable  of  im- 
mediate and  effective  application  to  the  intended  pur- 
pose. This  is  his  device,  as  built  by  him  for  mines, 
and  as  described  by  him  to  the  Royal  Society,  then 
already  (1698)  formed  and  in  operation,  and  to  the 
public  through  his  little  book,  "  The  Miner's  Friend ; 
or,  A  Description  of  an  Engine  to  raise  Water  by 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  1 1 

Fire  described,  and  the  Manner  of  fixing  it  in  Mines, 
with  an  Account  of  the  several  Uses  it  is  appli- 
cable to,  and  an  Answer  to  the  Objections  against  it. 
Printed  in  London  in  1702  for  S.  Crouch."  It  was 


Fig.  2.  —  Savery's  Engine,  A.  D.  1702. 

distributed  among  the  proprietors  and  managers  of 
mines,  who  were  then  finding  the  flow  of  water  at 
depths  so  great  as,  in  some  cases,  to  bar  further 
progress. 

The  engraving  of  the  engine  was  reproduced,  with 
the    description,  in  Harris's   "  Lexicon  Technicum," 


1 2  ROBER T  FUL  TON. 

1704;  in  Switzer's  "  Hydrostatics,"  1729;  and  in 
Desagulier's  "  Experimental  Philosophy,"  1744.* 

In  Figure  2,  LL  is  the  boiler  in  which  steam  is 
raised,  and  through  the  pipes  O  O  it  is  alternately  let 
into  the  vessels  PP.  Suppose  it  to  pass  into  the  left- 
hand  vessel  first.  The  valve  M  being  closed,  and  r 
being  opened,  the  water  contained  in  P  is  driven  out 
and  up  the  pipe  S  to  the  desired  height,  where  it  is 
discharged.  The  valve  r  is  then  closed,  and  the  valve 
in  the  pipe  O;  the  valve  Mis  next  opened,  and  con- 
densing water  is  turned  upon  the  exterior  of  P  by  the 
cock  Y9  leading  water  from  the  cistern  X.  As  the 
steam  contained  in  P  is  condensed,  forming  a  vacuum 
there,  a  fresh  charge  of  water  is  driven  by  atmospheric 
pressure  up  the  pipe  T.  Meantime,  steam  from  the 
boiler  has  been  let  into  the  right-hand  vessel  Pp,  the 
cock  W  having  been  first  closed,  and  R  opened.  The 
charge  of  water  is  driven  out  through  the  lower  pipe 
and  the  cock  R,  and  up  the  pipe  S  as  before,  while 
the  other  vessel  is  refilling  preparatory  to  acting  in  its 
turn.  The  two  vessels  are  thus  alternately  charged 
and  discharged,  as  long  as  is  necessary. 

Savery's  method  of  supplying  his  boiler  with  water 
was  as  follows  :  — 

The  small  boiler,  Z>,  is  filled  with  water  from  any 
convenient  source,  as  from  the  stand-pipe,  S.  A  fire 
is  then  built  under  it,  and  when  the  pressure  of  steam 
in  D  becomes  greater  than  in  the  main  boiler,  Z,  a 
communication  is  opened  between  their  lower  ends, 

1  Our  illustration  is  from  Thurston's  "  History  of  the  Steam- 
Engine/'  p.  37.  New  York.  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  13 

and  the  water  passes,  under  pressure,  from  the  smaller 
to  the  larger  boiler,  which  is  thus  "fed"  without  in- 
terrupting the  work.  G  and  N  are  gauge-cocks,  by 
which  the  height  of  water  in  the  boilers  is  determined ; 
they  were  first  adopted  by  Savery. 

"  Here  we  find,  therefore,  the  first  really  practicable 
and  commercially  valuable  steam-engine.  Thomas 
Savery  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  been  the  first 
to  introduce  a  machine  in  which  the  power  of  heat, 
acting  through  the  medium  of  steam,  was  rendered 
generally  useful.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Savery,  like 
the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  used  a  boiler  separate  from 
the  water-reservoir.  He  added  to  the  '  water-com- 
manding engine '  of  the  marquis  the  system  of  sur- 
face-condensation, by  which  he  was  enabled  to  charge 
his  vessels  when  it  became  necessary  to  refill  them  ; 
and  added,  also,  the  secondary  boiler,  which  enabled 
him  to  supply  the  working-boiler  with  water  without 
interrupting  its  action.  The  machine  was  thus  made 
capable  of  working  uninterruptedly  for  a  period  of 
time  only  limited  by  its  own  decay.  Savery  never 
fitted  his  boilers  with  safety-valves,  although  it  was  done 
later  by  others ;  and  in  deep  mines  he  was  compelled 
to  make  use  of  higher  pressures  than  his  rudely- 
constructed  boilers  could  safely  bear."  1 

In  this  case,  we  find  an  illustration  of  a  very  com- 
mon fact  in  the  history  of  inventions  :  The  originator 
of  this  machine  was  probably,  perhaps  undoubtedly, 

1  Thurston's  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  38.  See,  also, 
Thurston's  Manual  of  Steam-Boilers.  New  York.  J.  Wiley 
£  Sons. 


14  ROBERT  FULTON. 

the  second  Marquis  of  Worcester ;  but  the  practical 
constructor,  and  the  finally  successful  inventor,  was 
Savery,  the  man  who  combined  inventive  with  con- 
structive power  and  business  ability  in  that  way  which 
is  almost  always  essential  to  complete  success.  Savery 
was  more  an  "  exploiter  "  of  this  invention  than  its 
author.  Yet  he  did  introduce  some  excellent  modifi- 
cations of  details,  and  the  various  practically  useful 
minutiae  which  so  often  are  the  prime  requisite  to 
commercially  satisfactory  work.  A  glance  at  the  draw- 
ings of  the  machine,  however,  and  a  comparison  with 
the  modern  steam-engine  will  show  that  this  was  not 
only  not  a  steam-engine  in  the  usual  sense,  a  train  of 
mechanism,  but  that  it  belongs  to  an  entirely  different 
class  of  apparatus.  A  real  steam-engine  was  only  in- 
vented after  experience  with  the  Savery  apparatus  had 
shown  it  to  be  a  wasteful,  dangerous,  and  compara- 
tively rude  contrivance  for  the  application  of  steam  to 
the  work  of  raising  water.  It  was  wasteful  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fact  that  it  applied  the  pressure  of  the 
steam  at  trie  surface  of  the  cold  water  to  be  raised, 
and  was  thus  certain  to  condense  much  more  than  it 
could  usefully  employ ;  it  was  dangerous  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fact  that  it  must  necessarily  use  pres- 
sures exceeding  those  of  head  of  water  to  be 
encountered,  and  higher  than  the  mechanics  of 
that  time  could  make  their  boilers  and  "  forcing- 
vessels  "  capable  of  safely  withstanding.  More  than 
one  explosion  actually  occurred. 

It  is  here  that  we  meet  with  perhaps  the  greatest 
of  all  the  inventors  of  the  steam-engine,  —  the  man  who 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  15 

for  the  first  time  produced  a  steam-engine  of  the 
modern  type  ;  a  train  of  mechanism,  in  which  a  steam- 
engine  was  constructed  and  applied  to  another  ma- 
chine for  the  purpose  of  acting  as  its  "  prime  mover," 
—  an  engine  operating  a  pump.  This  greatest  of  the 
whole  line  of  inventors,  considered  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  historian  of  the  engine  and  the  student  of 
its  philosophy,  was,  not  Watt,  but  Newcomen,  or  per- 
haps more  precisely,  two  mechanics,  Thomas  New- 
comen and  John  Galley  or  Cawley,  who  patented  the 
new  engine,  1705,  soon  after  Savery's  machine  had 
come  to  be  fairly  well  known.  Savery  also  controlled 
some  of  the  patents  incorporated  in  the  new  arrange- 
ment, and  took  an  interest  with  its  inventors,  and 
shared  their  profits. 

Newcomen's  engine,  by  employing  steam  of  low, 
hardly  more  than  atmospheric,  pressure,  evaded  the 
dangers  inherent  in  that  of  Savery,  and  by  applying 
the  steam  to  move  a  piston  in  a  cylinder  apart  from 
the  pump,  secured  comparatively  economical  perform- 
ance. It  promptly  displaced  the  older  and  ruder 
contrivance,  and  came  into  use  all  over  Europe,  as 
constructed  later  by  Smeaton  and  other  great  engi- 
neers of  the  day.  As  finally  given  form  by  these  able 
men,  it  is  seen  in  the  next  engraving,  which  shows  the 
machine  as  built  by  Smeaton  in  1774,  for  the  Long 
Benton  colliery.1  The  boiler  is  not  shown  in  the 
sketch.  Figure  3  illustrates  its  characteristic  features.2 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  65. 

2  A  fac-simile  of  a  sketch  in  Galloway's  "  On  the  Steam- 
Engine,"  etc. 


1 6  ROBERT  FULTON. 

The  steam  is  led  to  the  engine  through  the  pipe,  C, 
and  is  regulated  by  turning  the  cock  in  the  receiver, 
D9  which  connects  with  the  steam-cylinder  by  the 
pipe,  E,  which  latter  pipe  rises  a  little  way  above  the 


Fig.  3.  —  Smeaton's  Newcomen  Engine. 

bottom  of  the  cylinder,  F9  in  order  that  it  may  not 
drain  off  the  injection- water  into  the  steam-pipe  and 
receiver. 

The  steam-cylinder,  about  10  ft.  (3  m.)  in  length, 
is   fitted    with    a    carefully-made    piston,    G,    having 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  17 

a  flanch  rising  4  or  5  inches  (.1  to  1.25  m.)  and 
extending  completely  around  its  circumference,  and 
nearly  in  contact  with  the  interior  surface  of  the 
cylinder.  Between  this  flanch  and  the  cylinder  is 
driven  a  "  packing  "  of  oakum,  which  is  held  in  place 
by  weights  ;  this  prevents  the  leakage  of  air,  water,  or 
steam  past  the  piston,  as  it  rises  and  falls  in  the 
cylinder  at  each  stroke  of  the  engine.  The  chain 
and  piston-rod  connect  the  piston  to  the  beam  //. 
The  arch-heads  at  each  end  of  the  beam  keep  the 
chains  of  the  piston-rod  and  the  pump-rods  perpen- 
dicular and  in  line. 

A  " jack-head"  pump,  N,  is  driven  by  a  small 
beam  deriving  its  motion  from  the  plug-rod  at  g, 
raises  the  water  required  for  condensing  the  steam, 
and  keeps  the  cistern,  (9,  supplied.  This  "jack- 
head  "  cistern  is  sufficiently  elevated  to  give  the 
water  entering  the  cylinder  the  velocity  requisite  to 
secure  prompt  condensation.  A  waste-pipe  carries 
away  any  surplus  water.  The  injection- water  is  led 
from  the  cistern  by  the  pipe,  P  P,  which  is  two  or 
three  inches  in  diameter;  and  the  flow  of  water  is 
regulated  by  the  injection-cock,  r.  The  cap  at  the 
end,  d,  is  pierced  with  several  holes,  and  the  stream 
thus  divided  rises  in  jets  when  admitted,  and,  striking 
the  lower  side  of  the  piston,  the  spray  thus  produced 
very  rapidly  condenses  the  steam,  and  produces  a 
vacuum  beneath  the  piston.  The  valve,  <?,  on  the 
upper  end  of  the  injection-pipe,  is  a  check-valve  to 
prevent  leakage  into  the  engine  when  the  latter  is  not 
in  operation.  The  little  pipe,  f9  supplies  water  to  the 

2 


i8  ROBERT  FULTON. 

upper  side  of  the  piston,  and,  keeping  it  flooded,  pre- 
vents the  entrance  of  air  when  the  packing  is  not 
perfectly  tight. 

The  "  working-plug,"  or  plug- rod,  Q,  is  a  piece  of 
timber  slit  vertically,  and  carrying  pins  which  engage 
the  handles  of  the  valves,  opening  and  closing  them 
at  the  proper  times.  The  steam-cock,  or  regulator, 
has  a  handle,  h,  by  which  it  is  moved.  The  iron  rod, 
/  /,  or  spanner,  gives  motion  to  the  handle,  h. 

The  vibrating  lever,  k  /,  called  the  Y  or  the  "  tum- 
bling bob,"  moves  on  the  pins,  m  n,  and  is  worked  by 
the  levers,  o  /,  which  in  turn  are  moved  by  the  plug- 
tree.  When  o  is  depressed,  the  loaded  end,  k,  is 
given  the  position  seen  in  the  sketch,  and  the  leg,  / 
of  the  Y  strikes  the  spanner,  /  /,  and,  opening  the 
steam-valve,  the  piston  at  once  rises  as  steam  enters 
the  cylinder,  until  another  pin  on  the  plug-rod  raises 
the  piece,  P,  and  closes  the  regulator  again.  The 
lever,  q  r,  connects  with  the  injection-cock,  and  is 
moved,  when,  as  the  piston  rises,  the  end,  qy  is  struck 
by  a  pin  on  the  plug-rod,  and  the  cock  is  opened  and 
a  vacuum  produced.  The  cock  is  closed  on  the 
descent  of  the  plug-tree  with  the  piston.  An  educ- 
tion-pipe, R,  fitted  with  a  clock,  conveys  away  the 
water  in  the  cylinder  at  the  end  of  each  down-stroke  ; 
the  water  thus  removed  is  collected  in  the  hot-well, 
S,  and  is  used  as  feed-water  for  the  boiler,  to  which 
it  is  conveyed  by  the  pipe  T.  At  each  down-stroke, 
while  the  water  passes  out  through  R,  the  air  which 
may  have  collected  in  the  cylinder  is  driven  out 
through  the  "  snifting-valve,"  s.  The  steam-cylinder 


STEAM  IN  EARLIER    TIMES.  19 

is  supported  on  strong  beams,  /  //  it  has  around  its 
upper  edge  a  guard,  v,  of  lead,  which  prevents  the 
overflow  of  the  water  on  the  top  of  the  piston.  The 
excess  of  this  water  flows  away  to  the  hot-well 
through  the  pipe  W. 

Catch-pins,  x,  are  provided,  to  prevent  the  beam 
descending  too  far  should  the  engine  make  too  long 
a  stroke ;  two  wooden  springs,  y  y,  receive  the  blow. 
The  great  beam  is  carried  on  sectors,  z  z9  to  diminish 
losses  by  friction. 

Comparing  this  machine  with  that  of  Savery,  it  is 
seen  that  the  dangers  of  the  form  previously  in  use 
are  here  evaded,  while  economy  is  enormously  pro- 
moted by  the  change.  As  it  is  here  practicable  to 
employ  steam  of  but  slightly  more  than  atmospheric 
pressure,  no  danger  of  explosions  consequent  upon 
high  pressure  in  regular  working  is  encountered.  By 
the  separation  of  the  pump  from  the  working  cylin- 
der, and  the  application  of  the  steam  to  a  piston, 
instead  of  to  a  surface  of  cold  water,  the  immense 
condensation  to  which  it  was  subjected  in  the  Savery 
engine  is  largely  reduced.  Thus  both  safety  and 
economy  are  gained.  It  is  therefore  not  at  all  sur- 
prising that  this  new  invention  should  have  come 
immediately  into  general  use,  and  should  have 
promptly  become  the  standard  form  of  the  steam- 
engine  for  its  time.  It  was  built  not  only  for  all  the 
principal  mines  of  Great  Britain,  but  also  for  those  of 
the  continent  of  Europe ;  and  long  after  the  death 
of  its  inventors  the  genius  of  that  greatest  of  en- 
gineers of  his  time,  Smeaton,  continued  to  sustain  it 


20  ROBERT  FULTON. 

and  to  keep  it  in  use,  even  as  a  rival  of  the  most 
famous  of  this  whole  line  of  inventions,  —  that  of 
James  Watt,  who  now  comes  upon  the  scene.  Smea- 
ton  himself  built  a  large  number  of  these  engines ; 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  about  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  there  were  not  less  than  a  hun- 
dred Newcomen  engines  in  Great  Britain,  and  many 
elsewhere  in  Europe. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  advantage  possessed 
by  this  engine  when  compared  with  that  of  Savery, 
it  was,  compared  with  our  modern  standards,  a 
very  wasteful  machine.  Its  wastes  occurred  through 
the  same  causes  precisely  as  those  operating  in  the 
case  of  its  predecessor,  and  though  in  less  degree, 
still  to  a  very  serious  extent.  In  the  operation  of 
the  pump-end  it  had  become  efficient ;  but  the 
steam-cylinder  was  both  a  power-producing  mech- 
anism and  a  condenser  of  steam,  —  for  the  condensa- 
tion of  the  one  working- charge  was  produced  by  the 
introduction  of  water,  cooling  the  cylinder  itself,  as 
well  as  the  steam  which  it  contained.  This  cooling 
compelled  a  subsequent  heating  by  the  next  charge 
of  steam,  and  consequent  condensation  and  waste 
proportional  to  the  quantity  thus  demanded,  —  a  very 
large  fraction  of  all  entering  the  engine.  Its  "duty" 
was  about  six  millions  of  pounds  of  water  raised  one 
foot  high  by  a  bushel  of  coals,  —  the  usual  measure 
of  efficiency  of  engines  in  those  days.  This  was  but 
about  a  quarter  of  that  obtained  a  little  later  by  Watt, 
and  but  a  tenth  of  that  secured  ultimately  by  his 
best  engines.  It  was  about  five  per  cent  of  what  is 


JAMES   WATT.  21 

to-day  considered  the  maximum  duty  of  the  modern 
engine  of  the  best  type. 

It  is  to  James  Watt  that  we  owe  the  latest  and 
crowning  improvements  of  the  steam-engine,  as  we 
know  it  to-day.  A  half-century  after  Newcomen  he 
found  among  the  collections  of  the  then  and  still 
celebrated  University  of  Glasgow  —  always  famous 
for  its  success  in  the  promotion  of  the  physical  sci- 
ences —  a  model  of  the  still-used  engine  of  that  ear- 
lier and  no  less  deserving  inventor.  He  was,  in  the 
course  of  his  duty  as  the  instrument- maker  to  the 
college,  called  upon  to  put  this  little  machine  in  re- 
pair ;  and  having  done  so,  he  became  interested  in 
studying  its  working.  He  was  surprised  to  find  that 
its  steam-cylinder  absorbed,  each  stroke,  four  times 
as  much  steam  as  its  measurement  would  indicate  to 
be  possible,  three  fourths  of  that  entering  being  evi- 
dently condensed,  and  only  one  fourth  doing  work. 
This  waste  of  seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  the  steam 
supplied,  and  of  a  similar  proportion  of  the  fuel  used 
in  generating  it,  and  of  the  money  demanded  for  the 
operation  of  the  engine,  seemed  so  extraordinary 
that  the  active  mind  of  the  great  inventor  was  at  once 
applied  to  remedy  so  singular  and  immense  a  loss. 

Watt  saw  at  once  that  the  remedy  must  consist  in 
some  way  of  reducing  this  liquefaction  of  the  steam 
by,  as  he  said,  "  keeping  the  steam-cylinder  as  hot  as 
the  steam  entering  it."  This  he  did  by  first  effecting 
the  condensation  of  the  steam  in  a  separate  con- 
denser, instead  of  in  the  cylinder ;  'then  surrounding 
the  cylinder  itself  by  a  "steam-jacket,"  in  which  he 


22  ROBERT  FULTON. 

kept  steam  at  boiler-pressure,  thus  preventing  any 
cooling  off  of  the  engine  during  the  period  of  its 
operation.  In  his  patent  of  1769,  he  says, — 

"  My  method  of  lessening  the  consumption  of 
steam,  and  consequently  fuel,  in  fire-engines,  consists 
in  the  following  principles  :  — 

"  i  st.  That  the  vessel  in  which  the  powers  of 
steam  are  to  be  employed  to  work  the  engine  — 
which  is  called  '  the  cylinder '  in  common  fire-engines, 
and  which  I  call  '  the  steam- vessel '  —  must,  during 
the  whole  time  that  the  engine  is  at  work,  be  kept  as 
hot  as  the  steam  which  enters  it :  first,  by  inclosing  it 
in  a  case  of  wood,  or  any  other  materials  that  trans- 
mit heat  slowly;  secondly,  by  surrounding  it  with 
steam  or  other  heated  bodies ;  and  thirdly,  by  suffer- 
ing neither  water  nor  other  substances  colder  than 
the  steam  to  enter  or  touch  it  during  that  time. 

"  2dly.  In  engines  that  are  to  be  worked,  wholly 
or  partially,  by  condensation  of  steam,  the  steam  is 
to  be  condensed  in  vessels  distinct  from  the  steam- 
vessel  or  cylinder,  though  occasionally  communi- 
cating with  them.  These  vessels  I  call  condensers ; 
and  while  the  engines  are  working,  these  condensers 
ought  at  least  to  be  kept  as  cold  as  the  air  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  engines,  by  application  of  water 
or  other  cold  bodies. 

"  3dly.  Whatever  air  or  other  elastic  vapour  is  not 
condensed  by  the  cold  of  the  condenser,  and  may  im- 
pede the  working  of  the  engine,  is  to  be  drawn  out  of 
the  steam-vessels'  or  condensers  by  means  of  pumps, 
wrought  by  the  engines  themselves,  or  otherwise. 


JAMES   WATT.  23 

"4thly.  I  intend  in  many  cases  to  employ  the 
expansive  force  of  steam  to  press  on  the  pistons,  or 
whatever  may  be  used  instead  of  them,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  now 
employed  in  common  fire-engines.  In  cases  where 
cold  water  cannot  be  had  in  plenty,  the  engines  may 
be  wrought  by  this*  force  of  steam  only,  by  discharging 
the  steam  into  the  open  air  after  it  has  done  its 
office." 

Thus  he  converted  the  "  atmospheric  engine  "  of 
Newcomen  into  the  steam-engine  of  James  Watt. 
His  separate  condenser,  with  its  air-pump ;  his  cov- 
ered cylinder,  permitting  the  contact  of  hot  steam 
instead  of  cold  air  with  the  top  of  the  piston;  his 
steam-jacket,  and  his  generally  improved  construction, 
at  once  gave  him  a  machine  which  was  capable  of 
doing  four  times  as  much  work,  on  the  same  expen- 
diture of  money  for  fuel,  as  the  older  engine.  A 
capitalist,  Matthew  Boulton,  joined  with  Watt  in  the 
formation  of  a  company  for  the  manufacture  of  the 
new  engine  ;  and  the  firm  of  Boulton  and  Watt  became 
promptly  known  all  over  the  civilized  world,  and  is 
likely  to  be  remembered  as  long  as  the  steam-engine 
endures.  This  partnership  was  formed  in  1 769,  and 
from  that  time  on,  for  years,  Watt  found  employment 
for  all  his  genius  in  the  improvement  and  adaptation 
of  the  engine  for  its  countless  purposes. 

In  1781  Watt  invented  the  now  familiar  "double- 
acting  "  engine,  applied  to  turning  a  shaft,  and  to  the 
driving  of  machinery  in  factories  and  mills.  His 
patent  included,  — 

(i)  The  expansion  of  steam,  and  six  methods  of 


24  ROBERT  FULTON. 

applying  the  principle  and  of  equalizing  the  expansive 
power. 

(2)  The  double-acting  steam-engine,  in  which  the 
steam  acts  on  each  side  the  piston  alternately,  the 
opposite  side  being  in  communication  with  the  con- 
denser. 

(3)  The  double   or  coupled  steam-engine,  —  two 
engines    capable    of  working  together,    or   indepen- 
dently, as  may  be  desired. 

(4)  The  use  of  a  rack  on  the  piston-rod,  working 
into  a  sector  on  the  end  of  the  beam,  thus  securing 
a  perfect  rectilinear  motion  of  the  rod. 

(5)  A  rotary  engine,  or  "  steam- wheel." 

The  efficiency  to  be  secured  by  the  expansion  of 
steam  had  long  been  known  to  Watt,  and  he  had 
conceived  the  idea  of  economizing  some  of  that 
power,  the  waste  of  which  was  so  plainly  indicated 
by  the  violent  rushing  of  the  exhaust-steam  into  .the 
condenser,  as  early  as  1769.  This  was  described  in 
a  letter  to  Dr.  Small,  of  Birmingham,  in  May  of  that 
year ;  and  the  earlier  Soho  engines  were,  as  Watt  said, 
made  with  cylinders  "  double  the  size  wanted,  and 
cut  off  the  steam  at  half-stroke."  But  though  "this 
was  a  great  saving  of  steam,  so  long  as  the  valves 
remained  as  at  first,"  the  builders  were  so  constantly 
annoyed  by  alterations  of  the  valves  by  proprietors 
and  their  engineers  that  they  finally  gave  up  that 
method  of  working,  hoping  ultimately  to  be  able  to 
resume  it  when  workmen  of  greater  intelligence  and 
reliability  could  be  found.  The  patent  was  issued 
July  17,  1782.! 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  105. 


JAMES   WATT.  25 

During  the  following  two  years  or  more,  Watt  was 
engaged  in  bringing  out  and  perfecting  a  number  of 
the  minor  inventions,  the  accessories  of  the  engine,  —  as 
the  governor,  the  counter,  the  numerous  little  details  of 
construction  and  of  valve  mechanism  ;  finally,  in  1 784, 
he  patented  a  group  which  included  these,  and  the 
steam-hammer,  and  the  locomotive.  The  steam- 
engine  had  now  taken  its  distinctively  modern  form, 
and  may  be  said  to  have  been  substantially  com- 
pleted ;  and  Watt's  work  was  mainly  done.  The 
form  of  the  engine  as  now  built  by  the  firm  is  seen 
in  the  next  engraving,  which  is  a  reproduction  of  his 
own  drawings  made  at  that  date. 

In  Figure  4,  C  is  the  steam-cylinder,  P  the  piston, 
connected  to  the  beam  by  the  link,  gt  and  guided  by 
the  parallel  motion  gdc.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the 
beam  a  connecting-rod,  O,  connects  with  the  crank 
and  fly-wheel  shaft.  R  is  the  rod  of  the  air-pump,  by 
means  of  which  the  condenser  is  kept  from  being 
flooded  by  the  water  used  for  condensation,  which 
water-supply  is  regulated  by  an  "  injection-handle," 
E.  A  pump-rod,  N,  leads  down  from  the  beam  to 
the  cold-water  pump,  by  which  water  is  raised  from  the 
well  or  other  source  to  supply  the  needed  injection- 
water.  The  air-pump  rod  also  serves  as  a  "  plug-rod,'1 
to  work  the  valves,  the  pins  at  m  and  R  striking  the 
lever,  m,  at  either  end  of  the  stroke.  When  the  pis- 
ton reaches  the  top  of  the  cylinder,  the  lever,  m,  is 
raised,  opening  the  steam-valve,  B,  at  the  top,  and  the 
exhaust-valve,  E,  at  the  bottom,  and  at  the  same  time 
closing  the  exhaust  at  the  top  and  the  steam  at  the 


26 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


bottom.  When  the  entrance  of  steam  at  the  top  and 
the  removal  of  steam-pressure  below  the  piston  has 
driven  the  piston  to  the  bottom,  the  pin,  R,  strikes  the 
lever,  m,  opening  the  steam  and  closing  the  exhaust 
valve  at  the  bottom,  and  similarly  reversing  the  position 
of  the  valves  at  the  top.  The  position  of  the  valves 
is  changed  in  this  manner  with  every  reversal  of  the 
motion  of  the  piston. 


Fig.  4.  —  Boulton  and  Watt's  Double-Acting  Engine,  1784. 

The  earliest  engines  of  the  kind,  and  of  any  con- 
siderable size,  were  those  set  up  in  the  Albion  Mills, 
near  Blackfriars'  Bridge,  London,  in  1786,  and  de- 
stroyed when  the  mills  burned  in  1791.  These  were 
a  pair  of  engines,  of  fifty  horse-power  each,  and  geared 
to  drive  twenty  pairs  of  stones,  making  fine  flour  and 
meal.  Previous  to  the  erection  of  this  mill  the  power 
in  all  such  establishments  had  always  been  derived 
from  wind-mills  and  water-wheels. 


JAMES   WATT.  27 

At  the  time  of  Watt's  death,  1819,  the  steam-engine 
had  thus  been  brought  into  its  now  familiar  and  stan- 
dard form,  and  had  been  prepared,  by  its  various 
modifications  of  detail,  to  do  its  work  in  all  now  usual 
directions.  The  engine  itself  was  substantially  com- 
plete in  form.  It  had  been  given  such  construction  as 
would  permit  the  expansive  use  of  the  motor-fluid, 
and  thus  the  attainment  of  high  economy ;  the  wastes 
had  been  reduced  to  a  comparatively  small  amount ; 
and  the  applications  of  the  machine  to  the  raising  of 
water,  the  driving  of  mills,  the  impulsion  of  railway- 
carriages,  and  of  vessels,  had  been  proposed  and, 
tentatively,  begun  in  all  directions.  It  was  now 
possible  to  begin  a  new  line  of  engineering  develop- 
ment,—  that  of  application  to  all  the  purposes  of 
modern  life.  It  is  this  which  has  been  the  distinctive 
industrial  characteristic  of  the  nineteenth  century.  As 
we  have  seen,  Watt  may  not  claim  the  honour  of  being 
the  inventor  of  the  steam-engine ;  but  he  is  unques- 
tionably entitled  to  that  of  having  been  the  most  fruit- 
ful of  inventors,  and  the  man  to  whom  most  credit  is 
due  for  having  applied  the  machine  to  its  myriad 
purposes,  making  it  the  universal  servant  and  friend 
of  mankind.  It  is  this  which  entitles  him  to  the 
famous  eulogy  in  his  epitaph,  as  the  inventor  who, 
"  directing  the  force  of  an  original  genius,  early  exer- 
cised in  philosophic  research,  to  the  improvement  of 
the  steam-engine,  enlarged  the  resources  of  his  coun- 
try, increased  the  power  of  man,  and  rose  to  an  illus- 
trious place  among  the  most  eminent  followers  of 
science,  and  the  real  benefactors  of  the  world." 


28  ROBERT  FULTON. 


II. 

EARLY    EXPERIMENTS   IN   STEAM-NAVIGATION. 

EVEN  before  the  time  of  Watt,  the  possibility  of 
the  application  of  the  motive  power  of  steam  to  the 
impulsion  of  vessels  had  been,  by  many  inventors, 
believed  to  be  unquestionable;  and  a  number  of 
attempts  to  so  apply  it  had  been  made.  But  so  rude 
were  the  machines  of  those  earlier  times,  and  so  im- 
possible was  it  to  secure  good  construction  of  even 
the  simplest  mechanism,  that  no  permanent  success 
had  been  achieved  by  any  one  of  these  enthusiastic 
schemers.  As  early  as  the  thirteenth  century,  Roger 
Bacon,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  modern  system  of 
experimental  philosophy,  wrote,  "  I  will  now  mention 
some  wonderful  works  of  art  and  nature  in  which 
there  is  nothing  of  magic,  and  which  magic  could  not 
perform.  Instruments  may  be  made  by  which  the 
largest  ships,  with  only  one  man  guiding  them,  will  be 
carried  with  greater  velocity,  than  if  they  were  full  of 
sailors."  1 

As  soon  as  the  steam-engine  took  practically  avail- 
able form,  it  was  proposed  to  use  it  for  this  purpose ; 
and  Papin,  in  1690,  suggested  the  use  of  his  piston- 
engine  in  this  direction.  He  actually  constructed  a 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  224. 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  29 

steamboat,  in  1707,  on  the  river  Fulda,  at  Cassell, 
using  his  pumping- engine  to  raise  water ;  which  water 
in  turn  was  applied  to  a  water-wheel,  and  drove  thus 
a  set  of  paddle-wheels  on  the  same  shaft.  The  con- 
trivance, crude  as  it  was,  was  found  capable  of  doing 
its  work,  and  the  boat  might  have  been  the  pioneer 
in  a  commercially  successful  use  of  steam  for  naviga- 
tion, had  it  not  been  promptly  destroyed  by  the  igno- 
rant and  superstitious  boatmen  of  the  neighbourhood, 
who  thought  it  the  work  of  the  Evil  One.  Papin,  dis- 
appointed and  discouraged,  fled  to  England,  and  there, 
becoming  well  known  as  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 
resided  until  his  death,  in  poverty,  about  1712. 

A  little  later,  1736,  Jonathan  Hulls,  of  whom  noth- 
ing seems  to  be  otherwise  known,  patented  a  steam- 
boat, of  which  he  gave  a  very  imperfect  description, 
but  which  he  is  said  to  have  constructed  and  success- 
fully tried,  and  an  account  of  which  he  published  in 
pamphlet  form  in  1737.  Its  frontispiece  is  a  rude 
illustration  of  the  proposed  boat,  and  also  gives  some 
slight  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  details  of  his  machin- 
ery, which  seems  to  have  included  some  modification 
of  the  Newcomen  engine.  This  has  been  reproduced 
in  fac-simile  in  later  works.1 

Bernouilli,  in  1752,  proposed  the  use  of  a  screw  as 
a  propelling  instrument.  L'Abbe'  Gauthier,  according 
to  Figuier,2  about  the  same  time  suggested  the  use  of 
the  steam-engine  in  navigation,  driving  paddle-wheels, 
and  also  that  it  should  be  used  for  operating  the 
pumps,  for  raising  the  anchor,  and  ventilating  the  ves- 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  226. 

2  Les  Merveilles  de  la  Science. 


30  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

sel,  and  that  the  fire  should,  at  the  same  time,  be  used 
for  cooking.  He  designed  to  use  the  Newcomen 
engine. 

Many  other  inventors  were  now  studying  the  prob- 
lem in  different  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  Among 
these,  none  were  as  ingenious  or  as  persistent  or  as 
successful  as  those  of  the  then  British  colonies,  later 
the  United  States  of  America.  Among  these  was  a 
group  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  mechanics, 
who,  seemingly  each  more  or  less  familiar  with  the 
work  of  the  others,  struggled  on  persistently,  and 
finally  successfully.  A  nucleus  consisting  of  one 
of  these  men  and  his  friends  and  coadjutors,  be- 
came, ere  long,  the  germ  of  the  great  movement 
which  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
resulted  in  the  final  application  of  the  powers  of 
steam  to  the  propulsion  of  steam- vessels,  —  first  on  the 
rivers  of  the  United  States  and  the  harbours  of  Great 
Britain,  then  on  all  the  oceans.  The  originator  of 
this  sudden  movement  in  the  United  States  seems 
to  have  been  a  man  unknown  to  fame,  and  one  of 
whom  few  records  are  preserved.  Our  own  informa- 
tion, hitherto  unpublished,  comes  from  an  indistinctly 
traced  source ;  but  its  facts  have  been  fairly  well  veri- 
fied by  independent  historical  investigation. 

William  Henry  was  born  in  Chester  County,  Penn., 
in  the  year  1729.  His  father,  John  Henry,  with  his 
parents,  and  two  brothers,  —  Robert  and  James,  — 
emigrated  to  this  country  from  the  north  of  Ireland 
in  or  about  the  year  1719  or  I720.1  The  father  of 

1  Robert  and  James  Henry  married  sisters,  named  Mary 
Ann  and  Sarah  Davis,  who  resideo  in  Chester  County.  Rob- 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  31 

James,  Robert,  and  John  was  a  native  of  Scotland, 
but  for  a  short  time  previous  to  his  coming  to  this 
country  had  resided  in  one  of  the  northern  counties  of 
Ireland.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  family  in  Pennsyl- 
vania they  settled  in  Chester  County,  where,  as  before 
stated,  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born.  At  an 
early  age  he  became  a  resident  of  Lancaster,  Penn., 
where  he  learned  the  business  of  gunsmith.  After 
serving  his  apprenticeship  he  began  business  on 
his  own  account,  and  in  a  few  years  became  the 
principal  gunsmith  in  the  province.  During  the  In- 
dian wars  which  desolated  Pennsylvania  from  1755 
to  1760,  he  was  appointed  principal  armourer  of  the 
troops  then  called  into  service,  which  position  pro- 
cured for  him  the  honour  of  having  his  name  given  to 
a  fort  in  Berks  County  constructed  by  the  Proprietary 
Government,  on  the  then  frontier  settlements,  under 
the  immediate  supervision  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  to 
whom  Mr.  Henry  was  well  known,  and  who  appre- 
ciated his  services  in  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  year  1760  Mr.  Henry  went  to  England 
on  business  connected  with  his  vocation,  and  there 
he  remained  for  some  time.  Having  a  mechanical 
turn  of  mind,  the  inventions  and  the  applications  of 
steam  by  Watt  being  then  much  discussed,  the  idea 
of  its  application  to  the  propelling  of  boats,  vehicles, 
etc.,  so  engrossed  his  mind  that  on  his  return  to  his 

ert  subsequently  removed  to  Virginia ;  and  from  the  circum- 
stances of  the  two  brothers  having  married  the  sisters,  Mary 
Ann  and  Sarah  Davis,  it  has  been  ascertained  that  the  cele- 
brated Patrick  Henry  was  a  descendant  of  this  Robert  Henry. 


32  ROBERT  FULTON. 

home  in  Lancaster  he  began  the  construction  of  a 
machine,  the  motive  power  of  which  was  steam. 
In  1763  Mr.  Henry  completed  the  machine,  which 
was  attached  to  a  boat  with  paddles,  and  with  it  he 
experimented  on  the  Canastoga  River,  near  Lan- 
caster ;  but  the  boat  was  by  some  accident  sunk.1 

This  was  the  first  attempt  that  ever  had  been  made 
to  apply  steam  to  the  propelling  of  boats.  Notwith- 
standing the  ill  luck  that  attended  the  first  attempt  in 
an  undertaking  of  the  practicability  of  which  he  had 
not  the  least  doubt,  he  constructed  a  second  model, 
with  improvements  on  the  first ;  and  among  the 
records  of  the  Pennsylvania  Philosophical  Society 
is  to  be  found  a  design,  presented  by  him  in  1782, 
of  a  machine,  the  motive  power  of  which  was  steam. 
An  intelligent  German  traveller  named  Shoepff,  who 
travelled  through  the  United  States  in  1783-1784, 
whilst  staying  for  a  time  at  Lancaster,  became  ac- 
quainted with  Mr.  Henry.  He  says  :  "  I  was  shown 
a  machine  by  Mr.  Henry,  intended  for  the  propelling 
of  boats,  etc.,  'but,'  said  Mr.  Henry,  '  I  am  doubtful 
whether  such  a  machine  would  find  favour  with  the 
public,  as  every  one  considers  it  impracticable  to 
make  a  boat  move  against  wind  and  tide  ; '  but  that 
such  a  boat  will  come  into  use,  and  navigate  on  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  he  had  not  the 
least  doubt,  though  the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  of 
its  being  appreciated  and  applied."  A  sketch  of 
the  machine,  with  the  boilers,  etc.,  made  by  Mr. 

1  See  Bowen's  "  Sketches,"  collected  in  Pennsylvania. 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  33 

Henry  in  1779,  *s  sa*d  to  be  stm*  m  ^e  possession 
of  his  heirs. 

John  Fitch  (for  whom  his  biographer  claimed  the 
honour  of  the  invention  of  the  application  of  steam 
to  the  propulsion  of  boats)  was  a  frequent  visitor  at 
Mr.  Henry's  house,  and  according  to  the  belief  of  his 
friends  obtained  from  him  the  idea  of  the  steamboat. 
Fulton,  then  a  young  lad,  also  visited  Mr.  Henry's  to 
examine  the  paintings  of  Benjamin  West;  and  the 
germ  that  subsequently  ripened  into  the  construction 
of  the  "  Folly "  was  possibly  due  to  those  visits. 
Mr.  Henry's  decease  occurred  on  the  i5th  of  De- 
cember, 1786. 

William  Henry,  though  unsuccessful  with  the  ex- 
periments with  his  first  boat  on  the  Canastoga  River, 
thus  very  probably  originated  the  idea  of  the  steam- 
boat at  least  five  years  before  Fulton  was  born. 
The  following  extract l  may  throw  some  light  on  the 
subject  :  — 

"Dec.  2d,  1785.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Philosophical  Society,  John  Fitch  was  personally  pre- 
sented to  the  members.  Desirous  of  having  the 
opinion  of  men  of  weight  at  that  period,  he  con- 
sulted several,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Henry,  of  Lan- 
caster, 'who  informed  me,'  says  Fitch,  'that  he  was 
the  first  person  who  had  thought  of  applying  steam 
to  vessels;  that  he  had  conversed  with  Mr.  Paine, 
author  of  "Common  Sense,"  and  some  time  after, 
Mr.  Henry,  thinking  more  seriously  of  the  matter, 

1  Inventor's  Guide,  by  J.  G.  Moore. 
3 


34  ROBERT  FULTON. 

was  of  the  opinion  that  it  might  be  perfected,  and 
accordingly  made  some  drafts,  which  he  laid  before 
the  Philosophical  Society.'  " 

Fitch  evidently  made  the  first  successful  experi- 
ment in  the  propelling  of  boats  by  steam ;  but  Wil- 
liam Henry  has  probably  the  honour  of  originating 
the  idea,  and  building  the  first  steamboat  ever  built 
in  the  United  States.  Fitch  improved  on  Mr.  Henry's 
model,  and  Fulton  improved  on  both. 

Thus  a  group  of  alert,  intelligent,  enterprising  men, 
in  this  little  town,  far  back  among  the  then  wilds  of 
Pennsylvania,  were  all  interested  in  the  solution  of  a 
new  problem.  Of  all  these  men,  two  —  Fitch  and 
Fulton  —  have  since  been  known  as  the  most  suc- 
cessful among  the  inventors  who  took  part  in  the 
introduction  of  steam  navigation  in  the  United  States. 
At  the  same  time  the  great  mechanics  of  the  country 
were  preparing  themselves  to  take  their  part  in  the 
work,  and  in  1775  tne  ^rst  steam-cylinder  for  a  sta- 
tionary steam-engine  was  cast  in  New  York  City,  by 
the  firm  of  Sharpe  &  Curtenius ;  *  while  the  applica- 
tion of  the  steam-engine  to  navigation  was  attempted 
in  a  rude  way,  since  often  tried  and  as  often  failing, 
by  James  Rumsey. 

Rumsey's  experiments  began  in  1774,  and  in  1786 
he  succeeded  in  driving  a  boat  at  the  rate  of  four 
miles  an  hour  against  the  current  of  the  Potomac  at 
Shepherdstown,  Va.,  in  presence  of  General  Wash- 
ington. His  method  of  propulsion  has  often  been 
reinvented  since,  and  its  adoption  urged  with  that 
1  Rivington's  Gazette,  Feb.  16,  1775. 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  35 

enthusiasm  and  persistence  which  is  a  peculiar  char- 
acteristic of  inventors. 

Rumsey  employed  his  engine  to  drive  a  great 
pump,  which  forced  a  stream  of  water  aft,  thus  pro- 
pelling the  boat  forward,  as  proposed  earlier  by 
Bernouilli. 

Rumsey  died  of  apoplexy  while  explaining  some 
of  his  schemes  before  a  London  society  a  short  time 
later,  December  23,  1793,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years. 
A  boat  then  in  process  of  construction  from  his  plans 
was  afterward  tried  on  the  Thames,  in  1793,  and 
steamed  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour.  The 
State  of  Kentucky  in  1839  presented  his  son  with  a 
gold  medal,  commemorative  of  his  father's  services 
"  in  giving  to  the  world  the  benefit  of  the  steam- 
boat." !  The  first  President  of  the  United  States 
certified  his  familiarity  with  this  device,  thus  :  — 

I  have  seen  the  model  of  Mr.  Rumsey's  boat, 
constructed  to  work  against  the  stream ;  examined 
the  powers  upon  which  it  acts ;  been  eye-witness  to 
an  actual  experiment  in  running  waters  of  some  ra- 
pidity; and  give  it  as  my  opinion  (although  I  had 
little  faith  before)  that  he  has  discovered  the  art  of 
working  boats  by  mechanism  and  small  manual  as- 
sistance against  rapid  currents ;  that  the  discovery  is 
of  vast  importance  ;  may  be  of  greatest  usefulness  in 
our  inland  navigation  ;  and,  if  it  succeeds,  of  which 
I  have  no  doubt,  the  value  of  it  is  greatly  enhanced 
by  the  simplicity  of  the  work,  which,  when  explained, 
may  be  executed  by  the  most  common  mechanic. 

1  History  of  the  Steam- Engine,  p.  236. 


36  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  seal,  in  the  town  of  Bath, 
county  of  Berkeley,  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  this  yth 
day  of  Sept.,  1784. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

John  Fitch  was  an  ingenious  Connecticut  me- 
chanic. In  April,  1785,  as  Fitch  himself  states,  at 
Neshamony,  Bucks  County,  Pa.,  he  conceived  the 
idea  that  a  carriage  might  be  driven  by  steam.  After 
considering  the  subject  a  few  days,  his  attention  was 
led  to  the  plan  of  using  steam  to  propel  vessels,  and 
from  that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  was  a  per- 
sistent advocate  of  the  introduction  of  the  steamboat. 
At  this  time,  Fitch  says,  "  I  did  not  know  that  there 
was  a  steam-engine  on  the  earth ; "  and  he  was 
somewhat  disappointed  when  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Irwin,  of  Neshamony,  showed  him  a  sketch  of  one 
in  "  Martin's  Philosophy." 

Fitch's  first  model  was  at  once  built,  and  was  soon 
after  tried  on  a  small  stream  near  Davisville.  The 
machinery  was  made  of  brass,  and  the  boat  was 
impelled  by  paddle-wheels.  His  own  account  of 
his  invention  is  as  follows :  — 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  8,  1786. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Columbian  Magazine. 

SIR,  —  The  reason  of  my  so  long  deferring  to  give 
you  a  description  of  the  steam-boat  has  been  in  some 
measure  owing  to  the  complication  of  the  works,  and 
an  apprehension  that  a  number  of  drafts  would  be 
necessary  in  order  to  show  the  powers  of  the  machine 
as  clearly  as  you  would  wish.  But  as  I  have  not  been 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  37 

able  to  hand  you  herewith  such  drafts,  I  can  only  give 
you  the  general  principles.  It  is  in  several  parts  sim- 
ilar to  the  late  improved  steam-engines  in  Europe, 
though  there  are  some  alterations.  Our  cylinder  is  to 
be  horizontal,  and  the  steam  to  work  with  equal  force 
at  each  end.  The  mode  by  which  we  obtain  what  I 
take  the  liberty  of  terming  a  vacuum  is,  we  believe, 
entirely  new,  as  is  also  the  method  of  letting  the  water 
into  it,  and  throwing  it  off  against  the  atmosphere 
without  any  friction.  It  is  expected  that  the  engine, 
which  is  a  twelve-inch  cylinder,  will  move  with  a  clear 
force  of  eleven  or  twelve  hundred  weight  after  the 
frictions  are  deducted ;  this  force  is  to  act  against  a 
wheel  of  eighteen  inches  diameter.  The  piston  is  to 
move  about  three  feet,  and  each  vibration  of  the  pis- 
ton gives  the  axis  about  forty  evolutions.  Each  ev- 
olution of  the  axis  moves  twelve  oars  or  paddles,  five 
and  a  half  feet,  which  work  perpendicularly,  and  are 
represented  by  the  stroke  of  the  paddle  of  a  canoe. 
As  six  of  the  paddles  are  raised  from  the  water  six 
more  are  entered,  and  the  two  sets  of  paddles  make 
their  strokes  about  eleven  feet  in  each  evolution.  The 
cranks  of  the  axis  act  upon  the  paddles  about  one- 
third  of  their  length  from  the  lever-end,  on  which  part 
of  the  oar  the  whole  force  of  the  axis  is  applied.  Our 
engine  is  placed  in  the  boat,  about  one-third  from  the 
stern,  and  both  the  action  and  the  re-action  turn  the 
wheel  the  same  way. 

With  the  most  perfect  respect,  sir,  I  beg  leave  to 
subscribe  myself, 

Your  very  humble  servant,  JOHN  FITCH. 


38  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Another  of  Fitch's  boats,  in  April,  1790,  made 
seven  miles  an  hour.  Fitch,  writing  of  this  boat,  says 
that  "  on  the  i6th  of  April  we  got  our  work  completed, 
and  tried  our  boat  again;  and,  although  the  wind 
blew  very  fresh  at  the  east,  we  reigned  lord  high  ad- 
mirals of  the  Delaware,  and  no  boat  on  the  river  could 
hold  way  with  us."  In  June  of  that  year  it  was  placed 
as  a  passenger-boat  on  a  line  from  Philadelphia  to 
Burlington,  Bristol,  Bordentown,  and  Trenton,  oc- 
casionally leaving  that  route  to  take  excursions  to 
Wilmington  and  Chester.  During  this  period,  the 
boat  probably  ran  between  two  thousand  and  three 
thousand  miles,  and  with  no  serious  accident.  Dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1790-1791,  Fitch  commenced 
another  steamboat,  the  "  Perseverance,"  and  gave 
considerable  time  to  the  prosecution  of  his  claim  for 
a  patent  from  the  United  States.  The  boat  was  never 
completed,  although  he  received  his  patent,  after  a 
long  and  spirited  contest  with  other  claimants,  on  the 
26th  of  August,  1791,  and  Fitch  lost  all  hope  of  suc- 
cess. He  went  to  France  in  1793,  hoping  to  obtain 
the  privilege  of  building  steam-vessels  there,  but  was 
again  disappointed,  and  worked  his  passage  home  in 
the  following  year,1  and  later  brought  out  a  new  boat 
in  New  York  City  driven  by  a  screw-propeller.  It 
seems  to  have  been  customary  to  secure  a  witness  in 
those  days  as  in  our  own,  and  we  have  the  following  : 

This  may  certify  that  the  subscriber  has  frequently 
seen  Mr.  Fitch's  (John  Fitch)  steamboat,  which  with 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  240. 


EARL  Y  EXPERIMENTS. 


39 


great  labour  and  perseverance  he  has  at  length  com- 
pleted ;  and  has  likewise  been  on  board  when  the 
boat  was  worked,  against  both  wind  and  tide  with 
considerable  velocity,  by  the  force  of  steam  only. 
Mr.  Fitch's  merits  in  constructing  a  good  steam- 
engine,  and  applying  it  to  so  useful  a  purpose,  will  no 


Fig.  5.  — John  Fitch,    1788. 

doubt  meet  with  the  encouragement  he  so  richly  de- 
serves from  the  generosity  of  his  countrymen,  especi- 
ally those  who  wish  to  promote  every  improvement  of 
the  useful  arts  in  America. 

(Signed)  DAVID  RITTENHOUSE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  12, 1787. 

Fitch  finally  retired  to  a  farm,  which  he  pre-empted 
from  the  public  lands,  in  Kentucky,  and  there  died 


a 

in  1796,  and  was  ouried  with  a  model  ot  his  steamboat 
beside  him. 

Mr.  Wm.  A.  Mowry  thus  states  another  historical 
fact : l  "  After  Watt  had  invented  the  steam-engine, 
Captain  Samuel  Morey,  of  Orford,  N.  H.,  was  fully  per- 
suaded that  the  power  of  steam  could  be  applied  to 
propelling  boats  by  the  means  of  paddle-wheels.  He 
therefore  set  himself  to  the  task  of  inventing  a  boat 
to  be  thus  propelled  by  steam.  This  he  accomplished. 
He  made  the  boat,  built  the  steam-engine,  put  in  the 
necessary  machinery,  and  with  a  single  companion, 
if  not  entirely  alone,  made  his  first  trial-trip  with 
complete  success,  running  from  Orford,  on  the  Con- 
necticut River,  to  Fairlee,  Vt.,  and  returning  to  Or- 
ford. This  was  as  early  as  1 793,  probably  in  1792, 
although  one  writer  says  1790,  —  at  least  fourteen 
years  before  Fulton's  trial- trip  in  the  '  Clermont '  up 
the  Hudson,  and  nine  years  before  his  first  trial- 
boat  was  constructed  in  France." 

Another  interesting  illustration  of  the  frequently 
observed  fact  that  a  common  thought  often  either  sim- 
ultaneously comes  to  the  minds  of  many  men,  or  passes, 
like  the  electric  current,  from  one  to  another,  when 
circumstances  and  a  favourable  route  of  communica- 
tion permit,  is  seen  in  the  entrance  upon  the  scene  at 
about  this  time  of  John  Stevens,  of  New  Jersey.  It  is 
said  that,  driving  along  the  bank  of  the  Delaware,  he 
suddenly  came  in  sight  of  the  little  steamboat  of 
Fitch,  which  that  inventor  was  just  then  running  be- 
tween Bordentown  and  Philadelphia,  and  at  once  deter- 
1  Providence  Journal,  1874. 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  41 

mined  that  he  could  and  would  accomplish  that,  as  yet, 
only  partially  completed  task.  Returned  home,  he  at 
once  set  about  the  construction  of  engine  and  boat ; 
and  after  several  years  of  intermittent  labour  brought, 
in  1804  and  1805,  two  forms  of  engine  and  boilers, 
and  two  boats,  in  which  he  adopted  the  screw  as  the 
propelling  instrument,  employed  high-pressure  steam- 
engines,  and  attained  a  speed  which  has  been  vari- 
ously reported  as  from  four  to  eight  miles  an  hour. 
He  invented  the  "sectional"  or  "safety"  boiler,  and 
when  Watt  was  still  using  steam  at  a  pressure  not 
exceeding  seven  pounds  per  square  inch,  he  regularly 
operated  his  engines  at  fifty  and  upward.  The  ma- 
chinery of  his  first  boat  is  still  preserved  in  excellent 
condition  by  his  heirs.  Later,  1807-1809,  he  built 
larger  and  faster  boats,  and  adopted  in  their  con- 
struction the  common  paddle-wheel  and  appropriately 
constructed  engines. 

Meantime  the  work  was  going  on  slowly  but  stead- 
ily on  the  other  side  the  Atlantic,  in  the  home  and 
birthplace  of  the  steam-engine.  After  the  time  of 
Hulls  we  meet  with  no  authentic  accounts  of  such 
inventions  or  experiments  until  about  the  time  that 
Fitch  began  his  work,  when,  in  1786  or  1787,  Patrick 
Miller,  of  Dalswinton,  built  a  boat  in  which  he  used 
manual  power  to  turn  paddle-wheels.  A  young  stu- 
dent, tutor  to  his  sons,  then  suggested  the  use  of 
steam-power,  and  soon  after  published  an  account  of 
his  scheme  (1787),  asserting  that  he  "had  reason 
to  believe "  that  the  steam-engine  might  thus  be 
made  useful.  Miller,  Taylor,  and  a  young  mechanic, 


42  ROBERT  FULTON. 

William  Symmington,  the  inventor  of  a  new  form  of 
steam-engine,  finally  entered  into  an  arrangement  re- 
sulting in  the  construction,  in  1788,  of  a  boat  (Fig- 
ure 6)  only  twenty-five  feet  long,  of  seven  feet  beam, 
and  of  rude  form,  which  was  reported  to  make  five 
miles  an  hour. 


Fig.  6.  — Miller,  Taylor,  and  Symmington,  1788. 

From  what  follows,  this  would  seem  to  have  been 
a  vessel  with  a  divided  or  "catamaran"  form  of 

hull:1  — 

DUMFERLINE,  6th  of  June,  1789. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  The  bearer,  Mr.  William  Symington, 
is  employed  by  me  to  erect  a  steam-engine  for  a 
double  vessel,  which  he  proposes  to  have  made  at 
Carron.  I  have  therefore  to  beg  that  you  will  order 
the  engine  to  be  made  according  to  his  directions. 

A  Preble  on  Steam  Navigation,  p,  20. 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  43 

As  it  is  of  importance  that  the  experiment  should  be 
made  soon,  I  beg  also  that  you  will  assist  him,  by 
your  orders  to  the  proper  workmen,  in  having  it  done 
expeditiously.  I  am,  ever,  with  great  regard,  gentle- 
men, your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

PATRICK  MILLAR. 
To  the  CARRON  COMPANY,  Carron. 

In  the  following  year,  a  larger  and  still  more 
successful  vessel  was  built,  and  a  speed  of  seven 
miles  an  hour  was  attained.  Nothing  came  of  this 
success,  however,  and  the  partnership  was  dissolved. 
Later,  Symmington  went  to  Lord  Dundas,  who  sup- 
plied him  with  capital,  and  in  1801  began  the  construc- 
tion of  the  "  Charlotte  Dundas."  —  a  paddle-steamer 
driven  by  horizontal  engines,  and  sufficiently  powerful 
to  serve  as  a  towboat  on  the  canals,  and  having  a 
speed,  running  free,  of  five  to  seven  miles  an  hour. 

In  France,  also,  the  application  of  steam  to  navi- 
gation was  experimentally  attempted  at  a  still  earlier 
date.  In  1770,  according  to  Figuier,  the  Comte 
d'Auxiron  and  his  friend,  the  Chevalier  Mounin, 
supported  the  inventor,  the  Marquis  de  Jouffroy,  in 
his  attempt  to  build  a  steam-vessel.  According  to 
our  author,1  — 

"D'Auxiron  determined  to  attempt  the  realization 
of  the  plans  which  he  had  conceived.  He  resigned 
his  position  in  the  army,  prepared  his  plans  and 
drawings,  and  presented  them  to  M.  Bertin,  the  Prime 
Minister,  in  the  year  1771  or  1772.  The  Minister 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  232. 


44  ROBERT  FULTON. 

was  favourably  impressed,  and  the  King  (May  22, 
1772)  granted  D'Auxiron  a  monopoly  of  the  use  of 
steam  in  river-navigation  for  fifteen  years,  provided 
he  should  prove  his  plans  practicable,  and  they  should 
be  so  adjudged  by  the  Academy. 

"  A  company  had  been  formed  the  day  previous, 
consisting  of  D'Auxiron,  Jouffroy,  Comte  de  Dijon, 
the  Marquis  d'Yonne,  and  Follenai,  which  advanced 
the  requisite  funds.  The  first  vessel  was  commenced 
in  December,  1772.  When  nearly  completed,  in 
September,  1774,  the  boat  sprung  a  leak,  and  one 
night  foundered  at  the  wharf. 

"  After  some  angry  discussion,  during  which  D'Aux- 
iron was  rudely,  and  probably  unjustly,  accused  of  bad 
faith,  the  company  declined  to  advance  the  money 
needed  to  recover  and  complete  the  vessel.  They 
were,  however,  compelled  by  the  court  to  furnish  it ; 
but  meantime  D'Auxiron  died  of  apoplexy,  the  mat- 
ter dropped,  and  the  company  dissolved.  The  cost 
of  the  experiment  had  been  something  more  than 
fifteen  thousand  francs. 

"The  heirs  of  D'Auxiron  turned  the  papers  of  the 
deceased  inventor  over  to  Jouffroy,  and  the  King 
transferred  to  him  the  monopoly  held  by  the  former. 
Follenai  retained  all  his  interest  in  the  project,  and 
the  two  friends  soon  enlisted  a  powerful  adherent  and 
patron,  the  Marquis  Ducrest,  a  well-known  soldier, 
courtier,  and  member  of  the  Academy,  who  took 
an  active  part  in  the  prosecution  of  the  scheme.  M. 
Jacques  P£rier,  the  then  distinguished  mechanic,  was 
consulted,  and  prepared  plans,  which  were  adopted 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  45 

in  place  of  those  of  Jouffroy.  The  boat  was  built  by 
Perier,  and  a  trial  took  place  in  1774,  on  the  Seine. 
The  result  was  unsatisfactory.  The  little  craft  could 
hardly  stem  the  sluggish  current  of  the  river,  and  the 
failure  caused  the  immediate  abandonment  of  the 
scheme  by  Perier. 

"  Still  undiscouraged,  Jouffroy  retired  to  his  country 
home  at  Baume-les-Dames,  on  the  river  Doubs. 
There  he  carried  on  his  experiments,  getting  his  work 
done  as  best  he  could,  with  the  rude  tools  and  insuffi- 
cient apparatus  of  a  village  blacksmith.  A  Watt 
engine  and  a  chain  carrying  "  duck-foot "  paddles 
were  his  propelling  apparatus.  The  boat,  which  was 
about  forty  feet  long  and  six  wide,  was  started  in 
June,  1776.  The  duck's-foot  system  of  paddles 
proved  unsatisfactory,  and  Jouffroy  gave  it  up,  and 
renewed  his  experiments  with  a  new  arrangement. 
He  placed  on  the  paddle-wheel  shaft  a  ratchet-wheel, 
and  on  the  piston-rod  of  his  engine,  which  was  placed 
horizontally  in  the  boat,  a  double  rack,  into  the  upper 
and  the  lower  parts  of  which  the  ratchet-wheel  geared. 
Thus  the  wheels  turned  in  the  same  direction,  which- 
ever way  the  piston  was  moving.  The  new  engine 
was  built  at  Lyons,  in  1780,  by  Messrs.  Freres-Jean. 
The  new  boat  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long  and  sixteen  wide ;  the  wheels  were  fourteen  feet 
in  diameter,  their  floats  six  feet  long,  and  the  "  dip," 
or  depth  to  which  they  reached,  was  about  two  feet. 
The  boat  drew  three  feet  of  water,  and  had  a  total 
weight  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons. 

"  At  a  public  trial  of  the  vessel  at  Lyons,  July  1 5, 


46  ROBERT  FULTON. 

1783,  the  little  steamer  was  so  successful  as  to  justify 
the  publication  of  the  fact  by  a  report  and  a  proc- 
lamation. The  fact  that  the  experiment  was  not 
made  at  Paris  was  made  an  excuse  on  the  part  of  the 
Academy  for  withholding  its  indorsement,  and  on  the 
part  of  the  Government  for  declining  to  confirm  to 
Jouffroy  the  guaranteed  monopoly.  Impoverished 
and  discouraged,  Jouffroy  gave  up  all  hope  of  prose- 
cuting his  plans  successfully,  and  re-entered  the  army. 
Thus  France  lost  an  honour  which  was  already  within 
her  grasp,  as  she  had  already  lost  that  of  the  intro- 
duction of  the  steam-engine  in  the  time  of  Papin." 

During  the  whole  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  invention  was  thus  rife  all  over  the  then 
civilized  world ;  and  by  the  end  of  that  century  suc- 
cess was  in  sight  of  a  dozen  inventors  on  either  side 
the  Atlantic.  The  attention  of  statesmen  like  Ste- 
vens, Livingston,  and  others  had  begun  to  be  at- 
tracted to  the  importance  of  the  new  motor  for  this 
purpose ;  and  the  great  mechanics  of  every  nation 
were  seeking  the  best  methods  of  construction  and 
application  of  a  marine  engine.  In  the  United  States, 
Nicholas  Roosevelt  built  a  boat  on  the  Passaic,  in 
1798,  sixty  feet  long,  and  put  into  it  an  engine  of 
twenty  inches  diameter  of  cylinder,  driving  the  craft 
eight  miles  an  hour  on  the  occasion  of  a  trial-trip  on 
which  a  large  party  of  invited  guests  were  entertained. 
Livingston  and  Stevens  had  both  employed  Roosevelt 
in  building  engines  for  themselves,  and  their  later 
activity  in  this  direction  was  undoubtedly  stimulated 
still  further  by  his  operations.  It  was  at  this  date 


EARLY  EXPERIMENTS.  47 

that  Livingston  obtained  from  the  State  of  New  York 
the  exclusive  right  to  the  steam-navigation  of  the 
waters  of  that  State,  which,  including  as  they  did  the 
Hudson  River,  gave  him  a  most  important  monopoly, 
conditioned,  however,  upon  his  success  in  the  produc- 
tion within  a  year  of  a  steamboat  that  should  have 
a  speed  of  not  less  than  four  miles  an  hour.  The 
act  expired  through  this  limitation ;  but  in  1 803  he 
secured  its  re-enactment,  and  by  the  aid  of  Robert 
Fulton,  who  now  comes  forward  as  the  prominent 
figure,  he  became  one  of  the  great  agents  in  the 
final  and  permanently  successful  introduction  of  the 
steamboat. 


48  ROBERT  FULTON. 


CHAPTER   III. 
ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE. 

ROBERT  FULTON,  artist,  engineer,  mechanic,  in- 
ventor, prophet,  and  statesman,  was  a  genius  of  the 
first  magnitude.  His  later  fame  is,  as  in  so  many 
such  cases,  based  rather  upon  what  became  most 
familiar  in  his  career  than  upon  the  real  capacity 
and  talent  of  the  man.  His  achievements  in  the 
introduction  of  steam-navigation  were  by  no  means 
the  best  or  highest  measures  of  his  genius.  He  was 
an  inventor,  and  a  great  one ;  but  he  did  not  invent 
the  steamboat,  or,  so  far  as  is  known,  any  part  of  it. 
He  was  a  talented  artist,  but  his  renown  does  not  in 
the  least  rest  on  his  fame  on  that  score ;  he  was  a 
civil  engineer,  and  accomplished  in  that  branch  of  the 
constructive  profession,  but  the  fact  is  to-day  almost 
unknown  even  to  members  of  his  craft ;  he  was  an 
eminent  mechanic,  but  the  "  Clermont  "  —  his  first 
steamboat  in  America  —  did  not  illustrate  his  genius 
in  that  direction. 

The  grand  achievement  of  Fulton  was  the  direction 
of  an  enterprise  which  resulted  in  the  production  by 
Watt  and  his  partners  in  Great  Britain,  and  by  Brown 
in  New  York,  of  a  steamboat  that  could  give  commer- 
cial returns  in  its  actual  daily  operation,  and  the  insti- 
tution of  a  "  line  "  of  boats  between  New  York  and 


ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE.  49 

Albany,  the  success  of  which  insured  the  introduction 
and  continued  operation  of  steam-vessels,  with  all  the 
marvellous  consequences  of  that  great  event.  He  was 
a  prophet,  inasmuch  as  he  foresaw  the  outcome  of  this 
grand  revolution,  in  which  he  was  so  active  a  partici- 
pant and  agent ;  and  he  was  a  statesman,  in  that  he 
weighed  justly  and  fully  the  enormous  consequences 
of  the  introduction  of  steam-navigation  as  an  element 
of  national  greatness ;  but  he  has  been  recognized 
neither  as  prophet  nor  as  statesman,  both  of  which 
he  was,  but  as  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  — 
which  he  was  not. 

Fulton  was  born  at  Little  Britain,  Lancaster  County, 
Penn.,  in  1765.  He  was  of  Irish  descent,  his  father 
having  come  from  Kilkenny  when  quite  a  young  man. 
The  Fultons  had,  although  living  in  the  then  wilder- 
ness, distinguished  families  for  their  neighbours.  The 
family  of  Benjamin  West  lived  in  the  adjacent  county ; 
and  the  home  of  William  Henry,  close  by,  was  a  ren- 
dezvous for  many  interesting  and  stimulating  ac- 
quaintances and  a  most  enjoyable  society.  The  Ful- 
ton farm  was  sold  to  Mr.  Swift  in  1766,  and  the 
family  removed  to  the  city  of  Lancaster,  in  which 
place  the  father  died  in  1768,  leaving  his  widow  with 
five  children  to  be  cared  for,  and  very  little  prop- 
erty with  which  to  provide  for  them. 

Robert  was  sent  to  school  in  1773,  and  acquired 
the  rudiments  of  a  good  English  education,  having, 
however,  learned  to  read,  to  write,  and  to  "  cipher  " 
already  at  home.  He  was  not  a  brilliant  scholar,  but 
made  fair  progress,  though  he  was  vastly  more  inter- 
4 


50  ROBERT  FULTON. 

ested,  as  are  all  bright  boys  of  that  age,  in  what  was 
going  on  in  the  workshops  of  the  mechanics  with 
whom  he  was  acquainted.  On  one  occasion,  his 
mother  having  suggested  to  his  teacher  that  the  boy 
was  not  giving  as  close  attention  to  his  books  as  was 
desirable,  the  honest  pedagogue  replied  that  he  had 
done  his  best,  but  that  Robert  had  asserted  that  "his 
head  was  so  full  of  original  ideas  that  there  was  no 
room  for  the  storage  of  the  contents  of  dusty  books." 
The  boy  was  then  ten  years  old. 

Even  at  this  early  age  he  exhibited  clearly  the  bent 
of  his  genius  by  the  manufacture  of  his  own  lead- 
pencils,  —  hammering  out  the  lead  from  bits  of  sheet 
metal  that  came  in  his  way,  and  made  pencils  which 
were  considered  hardly  inferior  to  any  graphite  pen- 
cils of  that  time.  This  was  two  hundred  years  after 
their  invention;  but  the  Fabers  had  been  making 
graphite  pencils  a  dozen  years,  and  the  Conte*  process, 
now  standard,  was  only  invented  twenty  years  later. 
It  may  be  very  possible  that  Fulton  made  a  good 
pencil  for  his  time.  In  1778,  the  citizens  having 
been  forbidden  by  the  town  council  to  illuminate  in 
honour  of  Independence  Day  because  of  the  scar- 
city of  candles,  Robert  invented  a  sky-rocket,  and, 
as  he  said,  proposed  to  illuminate  the  heavens  instead 
of  the  streets.  When  it  was  suggested  to  him  by  a 
friend  that  this  was  impossible,  he  replied,  "  No,  sir ; 
there  is  nothing  impossible." 

Fulton  while  still  a  child  became  an  expert  gun- 
smith, and  supplied  to  the  makers  in  his  town  draw- 
ings for  the  whole,  —  stock,  locks,  barrels,  and  all,  and 


ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE.  51 

made  computations  of  proportions  and  performance 
that  were  verified  on  the  shooting-range.  He  was 
successful,  both  as  designer  of  the  main  features  of 
the  gun  and  in  his  decorative  work,  and  the  makers 
were  always  glad  to  secure  his  sketches,  and  to  profit 
by  his  computations.  He  designed  an  air-gun  in 
1779,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  but  with  what  success 
is  not  known. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  his  first  thought  of 
new  methods  of  boat-propulsion  seem  to  have  come 
to  him.  Finding  the  labour  of  "poling"  a  flat- 
bottomed  boat,  on  the  occasion  of  making  a  fishing 
excursion,  somewhat  arduous,  he  made  a  model  of 
a  boat  to  be  impelled  by  paddle-wheels.  In  1779, 
he  tried  his  scheme  on  the  same  old  fishing-boat 
which  had  so  severely  taxed  his  powers,  and  found 
it  so  satisfactory  that  he  and  his  comrade  used 
it  a  long  time  on  their  fishing  excursions  on  the 
Conestoga,  about  Rockford,  the  residence  of  his 
comrade. 

The  boy's  childhood  and  youth  included  the  pre- 
liminaries to  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  its  final 
successful  accomplishment,  and  the  young  engineer 
and  artist  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  of  rebels,  and 
an  honest  foe  of  the  Tories,  many  of  whom  were 
settled  in  his  neighbourhood,  where  were  quartered, 
for  a  long  time,  a  body  of  the  Hessian  troops  sent 
over  by  the  British  government.  These  events  nat- 
urally turned  the  thoughts  of  the  young  inventor  to 
warlike  devices  and  military  and  naval  inventions ; 
and  his  whole  later  career  was,  not  improbably,  influ- 


52  ROBERT  FULTON. 

enced  greatly,  if  not  absolutely  controlled,  by  the  bent 
thus  given  his  fertile  brain  and  active  mind. 

Meantime  the  genius  of  painting  grew  strong  within 
him ;  and  the  development  of  that  natural  talent  had 
become  so  unusual  and  so  promising  that,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  Fulton  thought  it  wise  to  seek  a  wider 
field  for  the  employment  and  application  of  his  time 
and  labour.  He  went  to  Philadelphia  in  1782,  and 
there  remained  four  years,  returning  to  Lancaster 
on  his  twenty-first  birthday.  He  supported  himself 
in  the  interval  with  his  pencil,  and  proved  himself 
capable  of  doing  good  work  in  making  drawings  of 
machinery,  as  well  as  in  painting  landscapes.  He 
was  not  only  able  to  care  for  himself,  but  was  so 
successful  that  he  brought  back  to  his  mother  the 
means  of  purchase  of  a  small  farm  in  Washington 
County,  Penn.,  where  he  settled  his  mother  and  her 
family,  giving  her  a  deed  of  the  property.  Mean- 
time, also,  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  —  then  about  to  be  sent  to  the  Court  of 
France,  —  and  of  other  distinguished  citizens  of  that 
metropolis,  and  had  thus,  by  a  succession  of  happy 
accidents,  laid  the  foundation  of  his  later  fortunes. 

But  close  confinement  and  intense  application  had 
enfeebled  his  strength,  and  his  health  began  to  fail, 
his  lungs  showing  symptoms  of  such  weakness  that  it 
was  considered  unsafe  to  neglect  them,  and  his  friends 
insisted  upon  his  going  abroad  for  travel,  and  in  search 
of  diversion,  recreation,  and  health.  His  old  friend, 
Benjamin  West,  had  already  settled  in  London,  and 
had  there  become  famous;  and  it  was  thought  that 


ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE.  53 

he  and  other  acquaintances  of  the  promising  young 
artist  would  be  able  to  serve  him  in  many  ways,  and 
help  him  secure  advantageous  positions  and  employ- 
ment. He  first  went  for  a  time  to  the  Warm  Springs, 
Virginia,  and  passing  safely  through  an  illness  involving 
the  lungs  in  a  state  of  serious  inflammation,  and  a 
period  in  which  incipient  hemorrhages  were  among 
the  more  unpromising  symptoms,  he  finally  became 
well  enough  to  undertake  the  voyage,  and  sailed  for 
England  some  time  in  1786. 

We  have  few  authentic  accounts  of  Fulton's  life  in 
the  mother  country.  He  spent  some  time  in  London 
with  his  friends,  including  Benjamin  West,  who  received 
him  most  kindly,  and  continued  an  earnest  and  helpful 
friend  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  em- 
ployed mainly  in  painting,  but  did  not  lose  his  interest 
in  mechanics  and  scientific  pursuits.  He  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater,  and  with  Lord 
Stanhope,  and  this  friendship  led  to  many  schemes  for 
the  promotion  of  the  useful  arts  through  the  appli- 
cation of  Fulton's  and  other's  inventions.  Fulton's 
own  success  was  great;  but  this  did  not  prevent  his 
admiring,  as  an  artist  only  could,  the  work  of  his 
master,  West.  He  endeavoured  to  secure  the  whole 
series  of  West's  paintings  for  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  entered  into  correspondence  with  his  friends 
at  home,  with  this  object  in  view,  and  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  great  painter,  who  was  ready  to  dispose 
of  the  collection  at  what  was  regarded  as  a  very 
moderate  price,  —  much  less  than  he  received  for  his 
larger  and  most  esteemed  single  paintings  a  little 


54  ROBERT  FULTON. 

later.  But  Fulton  was  unable  to  raise  the  funds  at 
home,  and  the  opportunity  was  lost. 

Fulton  went  across  the  Channel  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  Paris  in  the  year  1797,  probably  led  to 
do  so  in  the  expectation  that  he  might  there  find  an 
opportunity  to  bring  out  some  of  the  numerous  inven- 
tions which  were  teeming  in  his  uneasy  brain.  He 
was  most  hospitably  received  by  the  American  minister, 
Mr.  Barlow,  and  his  wife  ;  and  immediately  upon  the 
opening  of  their  house  and  their  establishment  there, 
they  invited  Fulton  to  join  them,  greatly  to  his  satis- 
faction. He  accepted  the  kind  proposal,  and  lived 
in  their  family  seven  years,  practising  his  profession, 
as  artist,  learning  the  European  languages,  and  study- 
ing the  natural  sciences,  while  at  times  endeavour- 
ing to  find  ways  of  putting  into  practical  operation 
his  schemes  for  improvement  of  various  kinds  of 
machinery. 

During  the  few  years  of  his  residence  in  England, 
Fulton's  mind  had  been  as  active  in  the  devising  of 
new  schemes  and  inventions  as  during  his  boyhood 
and  youth  at  home.  As  early  as  1793,  according  to 
Golden,  his  biographer,  he  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
applying  the  engine  of  Watt  to  the  propulsion  of  steam- 
vessels,  and  his  manuscripts  of  that  time  contain 
confident  assertions  of  its  practicability.  He  patented, 
in  1794,  a  contrivance  which  he  calls  a  "  double  in- 
clined plane"  for  use  in  transportation;  and  while 
living  in  Birmingham,  at  that  time  or  a  little  later, 
contrived  various  new  machines  and  apparatus  of  en- 
gineering. The  manuscripts  containing  accounts  of 


ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE.  55 

these  plans  was  lost,  some  years  later,  in  1804,  when 
shipped  from  Paris  to  the  United  States ;  the  vessel 
in  which  they  were  sent  was  wrecked,  and  the  papers 
were  ruined  by  submersion  before  they  could  be  res- 
cued. In  the  year  1794,  also,  which  seems  to  have 
been  a  period  of  very  great  activity  with  him,  he  pa- 
tented a  marble-sawing  machine,  for  which  he  after- 
ward received  the  medal  of  the  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  the  Arts,  and  the  thanks  of  the  society 
as  well.  His  next  invention  seems  to  have  been  a 
machine  for  spinning  flax ;  another  was  a  rope-making 
machine ;  and  still  another  a  mechanical  dredger  or 
power-shovel, —  the  latter  coming  into  use,  and  remain- 
ing for  a  long  time  a  common  machine  in  England. 

Fulton  had  by  this  time  given  up  his  portrait  paint- 
ing, and  thenceforward  it  was  only  the  amusement 
of  his  hours  of  leisure  or  of  relaxation  from  his 
labours  as  a  civil  engineer ;  the  formal  announcement 
of  which  fact  was  made  about  1795,  at  which  date 
he  published  a  Treatise  on  Canal  Navigation.  He 
described  a  number  of  very  ingenious  devices  in  im- 
provement of  the  then  common  methods  and  ap- 
paratus of  locks  and  other  accessories  of  the  canal. 
In  making  the  illustrations,  he  illustrated  as  well 
his  own  skill  in  drawing,  and  his  own  power  of  de- 
signing details  of  his  machinery.  Copies  of  his  work 
were  sent  to  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
and  to  General  Washington,  whose  reply  expressed 
much  interest  in  the  subject,  and  confidence  in  the 
final  adoption  of  some  such  system  of  general  inter- 
communication in  the  United  States.  His  letter  to 


5  6  ROBERT  FULTON. 

the  governor  of  his  native  State,  published  in  his  book, 
exhibits  a  thoroughly  statesmanlike  quality  of  mind, 
and  broad  as  well  as  liberal  views. 

Fulton's  visit  to  France  was  made  largely  with  the 
hope  of  securing  his  patents  on  these  canal  improve- 
ments, and  of  introducing  his  inventions  in  that  coun- 
try. He  wrote  one  of  his  political  essays  in  the  form 
of  a  letter  to  Lord  Stanhope,  in  1798,  in  which  he 
endeavoured  to  show  the  importance  of  public  improve- 
ments, of  domestic  manufactures  and  trade,  and  of 
simple  and  light  taxation.  His  idea  was,  as  he  said 
at  the  time,  to  secure  the  publication  of  these  views, 
not  only  for  the  advantage  of  the  people  of  Great 
Britain,  but  with  the  hope  that  they  might  precede 
him  on  his  return  to  his  own  country,  and  enable  him 
to  effectively  urge  similar  views  upon  the  public  men 
and  legislators  in  America,  and  to  develop  a  public 
sentiment  in  favour  of  what  he  considered  essential  and 
correct  views  of  general  economics. 

Fulton  was  unquestionably  not  only  thinking  much 
on  the  economical  problems  of  his  time,  and  of  gene- 
ral statecraft,  but  he  was  as  undeniably  exhibiting 
the  grasp  of  the  statesman  upon  all  such  great  ques- 
tions. He  wrote  a  letter  "  to  the  Friends  of  Man- 
kind," especially  addressed  to  the  French- legislature, 
in  which  he  treated  such  topics  with  ingenuity,  intelli- 
gence, and  force.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the  whole 
world  was  agitated  by  the  events  which  preceded  the 
French  Revolution,  and  when  the  French  themselves 
were  seeking,  however  blindly  and  mistakenly,  with 
all  earnestness  and  good  intent,  the  way  to  better 


ROBER  T  FUL  TON  \S  EARL  Y  LIFE.  5  7 

methods  of  government  and  of  national  life.  They 
had  already  inaugurated  that  grand  system  of  public 
education,  of  technical  and  trade- education,  which  in 
their  hands,  and,  especially  in  later  years,  in  those  of 
the  Germans,  has  grown  so  marvellously,  and  with 
such  splendid  results,  during  the  intervening  century, 
now  just  ending.  Fulton  reinforces  the  lesson  already 
learned,  and  insists  upon  the  essential  necessity  of 
such  general  and  practical  education,  of  promoting 
interior  improvements,  and  all  those  vital  works  upon 
which  the  prosperity  of  a  country  depends  so  directly. 
He  says,  "  The  whole  interior  arrangements  of  gov- 
ernments should  be  to  promote  and  diffuse  knowledge 
and  industry;  their  whole  exterior  negotiations  to 
establish  a  social  intercourse  with  each  other,  and  to 
give  free  circulation  to  the  whole  produce  of  virtuous 
industry."  1  He  was  a  pronounced  and  ardent  free- 
trader ;  and  his  most  warlike  acts,  his  greatest  inven- 
tions in  the  military  and  the  naval  arts,  were  intended 
to  promote  the  cause  of  free-trade  by  driving  from 
the  ocean  the  fleets  of  all  nations  seeking  to  control 
the  high  seas  for  their  own  exclusive  purposes,  in 
order  that  he  might  thus  aid  in  securing  that  safety 
against  aggression  which  is  the  essential  prerequisite 
of  universal  freedom  of  exchanges.  "  He  considers 
what  he  calls  the  war  system  of  the  old  world  as  the 
cause  of  the  misery  of  the  greatest  portion  of  its  in- 
habitants, and  this  leads  him  to  a  curious  investiga- 
tion of  its  effects."2  His  "Thoughts  on  Free 

1  Colden's  Life  of  Fulton,  p.  22. 
54  Ibid.,  p.  23. 


58  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Trade  "  follow  the  same  line  of  study.  In  this  little 
tract,  still  unpublished,  he  developed  his  ideas  at  some 
length,  seeking  to  show  that  foreign  possessions  and 
taxes  on  imports  are  necessarily  injurious  to  nations. 
It  is  dated  1797;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it 
was  ever  published,  or  ever  presented  to  the  French 
government  in  any  form.  He  was  at  this  time  en- 
deavouring to  impress  his  views  upon  Carnot,  —  the 
greatest  statesman  of  his  time,  then  the  representa- 
tive, in  a  family  of  men  of  genius,  of  the  better 
ideas  of  the  revolutionary  period,  —  and  to  obtain 
through  him  some  recognition  of  what  he  thought  right 
principles  of  administration,  and  which  were,  in  his 
view,  essential  to  the  promotion  of  the  best  interests 
of  the  people.  When  Carnot  was  compelled  to 
leave  Paris,  at  the  inauguration  of  the  new  govern- 
ment, Fulton  laid  his  plans  before  the  Directory; 
but  they  do  not  appear  to  have  influenced  that 
body,  and  seem  to  have  remained  unnoticed. 

Fulton's  conclusion  was  :  — "  After  this  I  was 
convinced  that  society  must  pass  through  ages  of 
progressive  improvement  before  the  freedom  of  the 
seas  could  be  established  by  an  agreement  of  nations 
that  it  was  for  the  true  interest  of  the  whole.  I  saw 
that  the  growing  wealth  and  commerce  of  the  United 
States,  and  their  increasing  population,  would  compel 
them  to  look  for  a  protection  by  sea,  and  perhaps 
drive  them  to  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  European 
measures  by  establishing  a  navy.  Seeing  this,  I 
turned  my  whole  attention  to  finding  out  means  of 
destroying  such  engines  of  oppression  by  some 


ROBERT  FULTON'S  EARLY  LIFE.  59 

method  which  would  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  any 
nation  to  maintain  such  a  system,  and  would  com- 
pel every  government  to  adopt  the  simple  principles 
of  education,  industry,  and  a  free  circulation  of  its 
produce."  Thus  it  was  the  statesman  in  the  portrait- 
painter  that  led  him  to  apply  his  great  genius  as  an 
inventor  and  as  a  mechanic  to  the  production  of 
new  means  of  protecting  the  people,  their  industries., 
their  lives,  their  liberties,  through  the  novel  applica- 
tions of  the  useful  arts,  and  guiding  their  genius  in 
invention  and  construction,  first  to  defence,  then  to 
better  methods  of  production  and  more  efficient  in- 
dustry. Fulton  was  statesman,  as  well  as  artist, 
mechanic,  engineer,  economist,  inventor. 


60  ROBERT  FULTON. 


IV. 

THE   ARTIST   AS    ENGINEER. 

ROBERT  FULTON  was  an  artist  in  the  best  sense  of 
that  term  ;  and,  like  all  great  painters  or  sculptors,  like 
all  men  of  genius  who  accomplish  anything  by  actual 
doing,  he  was  as  naturally  and  truly  a  mechanic.  The 
artistic  sense  has  little  value  for  purposes  of  accom- 
plishment without  manual  and  tactual  dexterity  and 
sensitive  nerves  and  muscles  in  exact  accord  with  the 
operations  of  the  thought- faculty.  Every  successful 
artist,  like  every  surgeon,  investigating  chemist,  phy- 
sicist, naturalist  of  whatever  type,  depending  on  ma- 
nipulative operations  for  his  triumphs,  must  be  naturally 
a  mechanic,  with  all  the  mechanic's  intuitions  largely 
developed.  He  must  be  a  constructor  as  well  as  a 
thinker,  and  must  be  able  to  do,  as  well  as  to  imagine 
beautiful  things.  All  this  was  in  Fulton,  and  in  such  de- 
gree that  he  turned  his  mind  with  the  greatest  facility 
from  the  creations  of  the  artist  to  the  constructions  of 
the  engineer  and  the  mechanic.  He  found  it  as  easy 
to  take  up  the  drawing  instruments  of  the  engineer  as 
the  pencil  of  the  painter ;  as  easy  to  devise  new  forms 
of  road,  canal,  ship,  or  machine  as  new  and  lovely  pic- 
tures of  landscape,  or  to  depict  human  features  in  all 
their  wonderful  modes  of  expression,  and  to  illustrate 


THE  ARTIST  AS  ENGINEER.  6 1 

all  their  marvellous  shades  of  character.    The  success- 
ful artist  was  even  more  successful  as  engineer. 

The  genius  of  the  engineer  and  the  originality  of 
the  inventor,  which  has  been  seen  in  the  boy  of  four- 
teen, developed  with  his  growth,  and  without  interrup- 
tion, into  his  mature  years.  The  sketches  made  for 
the  gunmaker  of  his  native  town  were  but  the  proto- 
types of  the  drawings  of  the  greater  works  of  the 
engineer  and  of  the  mechanic.  The  invention  of  the 
sky-rocket  was  the  antecedent  of  the  invention  of  a 
submarine  engine-of-war ;  the  little  paddle-boat  on 
the  Conastoga  was  the  symbol  of  the  later  steamboat 
on  the  Seine  and  on  the  Hudson ;  and  the  boy  in- 
ventor was  the  parent  of  the  man  as  engineer.  But 
the  genius  which  had  been,  in  youth,  guided  and  given 
direction  by  the  whims  of  the  child,  in  later  years  was 
made  the  servant  of  the  sage  ;  and  the  grander  plans 
of  the  statesman,  devised  with  a  view  to  the  ameliora- 
tion of  the  trials  of  humanity,  were  promoted  effec- 
tively by  the  application  of  the  same  genius  to  their 
accomplishment.  The  glory  of  the  inventor  is  the 
greater  that  it  came  of  the  grander  thought  of  the 
humanitarian. 

Fulton's  work  as  engineer  appears  to  have  been 
both  extensive  and  successful.  His  attention  seems 
to  have  been  called  at  an  early  period  in  his  profes- 
sional career  to  the  extension  and  improvement  of 
canals.  The  floods  of  1795  *n  Great  Britain,  where 
he  was  then  residing,  destroyed  much  property,  and 
seriously  injured  portions  of  the  Shrewsbury  Canal, 
especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Long,  where  it  was 


62  ROBERT  FULTON. 

carried  over  the  Tern  on  an  aqueduct  of  some  magni- 
tude. Fulton  at  once  set  about  the  study  of  better 
methods  of  construction,  and  devised  many  ingenious 
forms  of  apparatus  and  machinery  for  use  in  canal 
construction  and  operation.  He  proposed,  in  1796, 
a  cast-iron  aqueduct,  of  which  he  submitted  complete 
plans  and  working  drawings  to  a  committee  of  the 
Board  of  Agriculture,  in  March  of  that  year.  He 
proposed  the  use  of  castings  which,  as  he  said,  could 
be  "cast  in  open  sand,"  and  erected  without  other 
than  the  simplest  and  most  inexpensive  kind  of  stag- 
ing, instead  of  the  elaborate  centring  necessitated  by 
construction  of  stone  arches,  —  a  detail  of  the  older 
construction  which  often  cost  more  time  and  more 
thought  in  planning,  and  proved  hardly  less  costly  in 
building,  than  the  main  structure  itself  after  its  com- 
pletion. He  showed  that  his  plan  compelled  the 
making  of  but  few  patterns,  and  those  of  easy  and 
cheap  construction ;  and  that  the  difficulties  of  secur- 
ing a  water-tight  lining  so  great  in  stone  works  of 
this  sort,  were,  with  iron,  insignificant.  In  case  of  a 
leak  occurring  later,  it  would  be  easily  and  quickly 
detected,  and  as  readily  and  certainly  staunched; 
while  in  stone  it  often  was  not  observed  until  much 
damage  had  been  done  ;  and  its  repair  was  sometimes 
a  matter  of  great  difficulty,  delay,  and  expense. 

One  of  these  aqueducts  of  cast-iron  was  afterward 
erected,  on  the  plan  of  Fulton,  over  the  Dee,  at  Pont- 
cylytee,  twenty  miles  from  Chester,  composed  of  eigh- 
teen spans  of  fifty-two  feet  each,  and  supported  on 
pillars,  the  tallest  of  which,  in  the  middle  of  the  val- 


THE  ARTIST  AS  ENGINEER.  63 

ley,  was  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  high.  The 
total  length  of  the  structure  was  about  three  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  yards,  its  width  twenty  feet,  and  its 
depth  six  feet.  The  tow-path  was  secured  on  one 
side,  bracketed  to  the  body  of  the  aqueduct,  and 
rendered  safe  by  means  of  a  strong  iron  rail. 

The  same  principles  were  adopted  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  plans  for  bridges  of  various  kinds,  and  for  all 
purposes ;  and  plans,  detail  drawings,  and  models 
were  exhibited  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture  at  about  this 
time,  for  canals,  railways,  —  then  already  in  existence, 
though  before  the  days  of  steam  locomotion  and  of  the 
substitution  of  the  steam-horse  for  animal  power, —  and 
for  highways.  Several  of  these  bridges  were  erected 
on  the  line  of  the  Surrey  Iron  Railway,  including  one 
at  Wandsworth.  Bridges  were  designed  by  Fulton 
for  carrying  the  roads  across  deep  and  wide  valleys  on 
inclined  gradients ;  and  in  such  cases,  often,  he  pro- 
posed to  haul  them  over  by  means  of  endless  ropes, 
instead  of  sending  the  horses  over  with  them  on 
tow-paths  attached  to  the  bridge,  or  forming  part  of  it. 
Water-power  or  other  efficient  motor  was  to  be  em- 
ployed where  convenient.  The  modern  and  now 
usual  system  of  discharging  from  the  railway  into 
barges  or  vessels  by  dumping  the  load  from  the  cars 
or  wagons  into  a  slide  leading  down  to  the  water-side 
from  the  higher  level  of  the  road,  was  one  of  the  plans 
here  introduced.  .Special  provisions  were  made  for 
the  passing  of  roads,  water-courses,  and  other  lines 
of  rail,  and  the  whole  formed  a  complete  and  con- 
sistent scheme.  Fulton's  biographers  state  that  he 


64  ROBERT  FULTON. 

always  made  the  most  perfect  and  detailed  plans,  the 
neatest  of  drawings,  and  usually  very  accurate  models, 
before  proceeding  with  his  proposals  or  laying  them 
before  capitalists  or  public  officials.  His  computations 
of  costs  were  equally  exact,  detailed,  and  well  planned, 
giving  the  expense  of  details  of  construction,  foot  by 
foot,  all  dimensions,  the  loads  to  be  carried  for  a 
single  horse,  the  speed,  the  profits,  and  the  estimated 
revenue. 

One  of  Fulton's  most  interesting  and  novel,  if  not 
his  most  daring  of  innovations,  was  that  in  which  he 
proposed  to  take  his  boats  out  of  the  canal  and  trans- 
port them  overland  at  certain  parts  of  the  route,  to 
avoid  the  first  cost  of  construction  of  a  canal  in  a  diffi- 
cult country.  These  "inclined  planes"  were  actually 
built,  and  were  found  practicable ;  and  illustrations 
of  this  plan  have  been  in  use  for  many  years  in  the 
United  States,  on  the  line  of  the  Morris  and  Essex 
Canal  and  elsewhere,  while  the  great  scheme  of  Captain 
Edes,  of  a  trans-isthmian  railway,  uniting  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans,  was  a  development  of  the  same 
idea  on  a  grander  scale.  This  invention  was  patented 
by  Fulton  in  England,  in  May,  1 794.  It  was  proposed 
that  the  boats  should  be  either  taken  upon  cradles  of 
suitable  form  and  size  or  into  caissons  in  which  they 
could  float,  and  the  whole  mass  then  drawn  out  of 
water  on  wheels,  and  up  the  inclined  planes  to  the 
higher  level,  or  lowered  from  the  upper  to  the  lower 
level,  as  might  be  required,  by  horse-power.  Coun- 
terbalances were  adopted  to  make  the  total  load  a 
minimum,  and  every  device  then  known  was  applied 


THE  ARTIST  AS  ENGINEER.  65 

for  reducing  friction  and  resistances.  Water-power, 
where  available,  was  to  be  substituted  for  horse-power, 
and  brakes  were  employed  to  control  the  load  when 
lowering  it.  It  was  proposed  that  in  this  manner 
advantage  should  be  taken  of  the  opportunities  oc- 
casionally offering  to  utilize  broad  streams,  or  even 
considerable  lengths  of  rivers,  in  place  of  the  costly 
construction  of  canals,  by  sending  the  boats  down  on 
the  one  side  and  taking  them  up  on  the  other,  or  by 
running  for  a  distance  along  the  thread  of  the  stream, 
then  resuming  the  course  of  the  canal,  transferring 
from  the  one  to  the  other  by  means  of  inclined 
planes.  The  boats  were  so  designed  that  they  could 
be  easily  hauled  by  horse-power,  and  yet  so  light  that 
the  transfer  on  the  inclined  planes  should  not,  even 
where  quite  steep,  become  a  serious  task.  In  other 
cases,  he  arranged  for  drawing  water  from  the  upper 
level  and  sending  it  down  into  the  lower  portion 
of  the  canal,  utilizing  its  weight  in  the  passage  by 
employing  it  in  the  raising  of  the  boats.  In  some 
cases  he  used  centrifugal  fans  or  blowers  as  regulators 
of  speed. 

These  plans  were,  many  of  them  at  least,  described 
in  a  treatise  "  On  the  Improvement  of  Canal  Naviga- 
tion," published  in  London,  in  1796,  in  4to  size,  and 
illustrated  by  many  neatly-made  plates.  Several 
forms  of  boat  for  his  special  purposes  are  there 
shown  by  Fulton,  and  each  adapted  to  its  peculiar 
purpose,  as  for  rapid  or  for  slow  speeds ;  for  market- 
ing or  for  heavy  freighting ;  for  mounting  on  wheels 
and  transportation  overland.  He  used  an  elevator 
5 


66  ROBERT  FULTON. 

for  perpendicular  lifts,  and  described  all  its  details  of 
construction,  including  a  counterbalance,  which  re- 
lieved the  hoist  from  unnecessary  strains.  This  sub- 
ject occupied  the  attention  of  the  great  engineer 
throughout  the  remainder  of  his  life  ;  and  later,  even 
while  in  the  midst  of  the  most  engrossing  labours  on 
the  more  immediately  promising  inventions,  and  while 
working  upon  his  scheme  of  steam- navigation,  Fulton 
was  able  to  find  an  occasional  opportunity  to  give  a 
little  leisure  to  the  promotion  of  canal  construction 
abroad  and  at  home.  His  treatise  on  the  subject, 
published  in  both  French  and  English,  called  the  at- 
tention of  Mr.  Gallatin,  later  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States,  to  his  work,  and  he  was  invited 
by  that  gentleman  to  present  his  views  in  detail,  for 
use  in  a  Report  to  Congress  relating  to  internal 
improvements. 

In  his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Ful- 
ton exhibits  his  statesmanlike  quality  of  mind,  and 
some  of  his  most  impressive  thoughts.  He  quotes 
Hume,  who  says  :  "  The  government  of  a  wise  people 
would  be  little  more  than  a  system  of  civil  police ; 
for  the  best  interest  of  man  is  industry  and  a  free 
exchange  of  the  produce  of  labour  for  the  things  that 
he  may  require,"  and  goes  on  to  ask  "  what  stronger 
bonds  of  union  can  be  invented  than  those  which 
enable  each  individual  to  transport  the  produce  of  his 
industry  twelve  hundred  miles  for  sixty  cents  the  hun- 
dred weight?"  He  refers  to  the  case  of  England 
and  Scotland,  once  enemies,  now  bound  together  "  by 
habit,  by  turnpike  roads,  by  canals,  and  by  reciprocal 


THE  ARTIST  AS  ENGINEER.  67 

interests;  "  "and  when  the  United  States  are  bound 
together  by  canals,  by  cheap  and  easy  access  to  a  mar- 
ket in  all  directions,  by  a  sense  of  mutual  interests 
arising  from  mutual  intercourse  and  mingled  commerce, 
it  will  be  no  more  possible  to  split  them  into  indepen- 
dent and  separate  governments,  each  lining  its  own 
frontiers  with  fortifications  and  troops,  to  shackle 
their  own  exports  and  imports  to  and  from  the 
neighbouring  States,  than  it  is  now  possible  for  the 
government  of  England  to  divide  and  form  again 
into  seven  kingdoms."  And  speaking  of  his  ideas 
and  their  origin,  he  says  :  "  It  is  now  eleven  years 
since  I  have  had  this  plan  in  contemplation  for  the 
good  of  my  country ;  "  and  "  it  contemplates  a  time 
when  canals  shall  pass  through  every  vale,  winding 
around  each  hill,  and  bind  the  whole  country  together 
in  bonds  of  social  intercourse." 

On  his  return  to  his  native  country  in  1807,  Fulton 
addressed  letters  to  the  Government  on  this  subject, 
and  again  in  1810  wrote  to  the  legislature  of  New 
York  on  the  same  subject,  acting  later  as  a  commis- 
sioner to  investigate  the  practicability  of  securing  in- 
tercommunication in  this  manner  between  the  waters 
of  the  great  lakes  and  the  Hudson.  As  late  as  1814 
he  was  still  urging  this  project,  which  finally  resulted 
in  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  —  a  system  of 
public  improvements  which  became  ultimately  a  source 
of  enormous  wealth  to  the  country,  and  of  advantage 
to  the  State  through  which  it  passed. 

In  a  letter  to  President  Madison  in  1810  he  wrote  : 
"  Canals  bending  around  the  hills  would  irrigate  the 


68  ROBERT   FULTON. 

grounds  beneath  and  convert  them  into  luxuriant 
pasturage.  They  would  bind,  a  hundred  millions  of 
people  in  one  inseparable,  compact  body,  alike  in 
habits,  in  language,  and  in  interest,  —  one  homoge- 
neous brotherhood,  —  the  most  invulnerable,  power- 
ful, and  respectable  on  earth."  "  Will  you  not  search 
into  the  most  hidden  recesses  of  science,"  he  asks, 
to  find  a  means  "  to  direct  the  genius  and  resources 
of  the  country  to  useful  improvements,  to  the  sciences, 
to  the  arts,  education,  the  amendment  of  the  public 
mind  and  morals?"  "  In  such  pursuits  lie  real  hon- 
our and  the  nation's  glory ;  "  "  such  are  the  labours 
of  enlightened  republicans,  —  of  those  who  labour  for 
the  public  good." 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  69 


V. 


THE   ENGINEER,   AS   INVENTOR,    IN   SUBMARINE 
WARFARE. 

WHILE  it  is  true  that  the  genius  of  Fulton  as  an 
inventor  was  to  a  certain  extent  exhibited  in  his  civil 
constructions,  and  in  his  numerous  novel  devices  for 
the  improvement  of  canals  and  their  navigation,  the 
engineer  of  to-day  would  regard  them  as  rather  simple 
and  commonplace  constructions,  and  as  illustrating 
the  ordinary  solution  of  every-day  problems,  rather 
than  as  the  product  of  remarkable  inventive  talent. 
Were  there  any  question  of  his  great  skill  and  talent 
in  this  department,  however,  the  study  of  his  plans 
for  the  institution  of  a  system  of  submarine  naviga- 
tion and  warfare  would  thoroughly  remove  all  doubt. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  century,  perhaps  before,  he 
had  given  much  thought  to  the  means  available  for 
securing  what  he  considered  essential  to  the  indepen- 
dence of  nations, — the  freedom  of  the  seas.  These 
studies  finally  resulted  in  the  production  of  a  very 
complete  system,  both  of  apparatus  and  methods,  and 
in  the  attainment  of  some  success  —  a  very  remark- 
able degree  of  success  for  those  times  —  in  their 
application  in  practice. 

Fulton  was  in  France  in  the  year  1803,  when  he 
received  a  message  from  the  British  ministry,  asking 


70  ROBERT  FULTON. 

that  he  meet  an  agent  of  that  government  in  Holland 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  character  and  appli- 
cations of  his  invention,  the  general  nature  of  which 
was  fully  understood  by  Lord  Stanhope,  who  had 
become  interested  in  Fulton  and  had  kept  him  in 
view,  apparently  hoping  to  secure  from  him  some 
useful  inventions  for  use  in  the  British  army  and  navy. 
The  inventor  proceeded  to  Holland  as  arranged ;  but 
the  agent  did  not  meet  his  appointment,  and  Fulton 
returned  to  Paris,  where  he  was  followed  by  his  in- 
tending correspondent  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1804, 
by  whom  he  was  induced  to  visit  London  and  confer 
with  the  new  ministry.  A  commission  was  appointed 
in  June  of  the  same  year,  consisting  of  five  distin- 
guished engineers  and  military  men,  who  examined 
the  plans  presented  them  with  interest,  but  with  true 
British  conservatism  reported  against  them  as  "im- 
practicable." Fulton  proceeded  at  once  to  demon- 
strate their  entire  practicability. 

An  expedition  fitted  out  against  the  French  fleet 
in  the  harbour  of  Boulogne  failed  in  consequence,  not 
of  defects  in  the  torpedoes,  but  through  some  inad- 
vertence in  their  operation  by  the  inexperienced  men 
intrusted  with  their  application.  Fulton  next  con- 
ducted experiments  illustrating  their  value  and  power, 
blowing  up  a  heavy  brig  in  Walmar  roads,  beyond 
Deal,  October  15,  1805,  under  the  walls  of  the  castle 
of  Mr.  Pitt.  Seventy  pounds  of  powder  were  em- 
ployed, and  the  result,  as  described  by  the  inventor, 
was  perfectly  satisfactory  :  "  Exactly  in  fifteen  minutes 
from  the  time  of  drawing  the  peg  and  throwing  the 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  71 

carcass  into  the  water,  the  explosion  took  place.  It 
lifted  the  brig  almost  bodily,  and  broke  her  completely 
in  two.  The  ends  sank  immediately,  and  nothing 
was  seen  but  floating  fragments."  ...  "In  fact,  her 
annihilation  was  complete,  and  the  effect  was  most 
extraordinary."  The  vessel  "went  to  pieces  like 
a  shattered  eggshell."  Nothing  came  of  his  efforts, 
however,  in  Great  Britain. 

The  work  which  had  thus  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  British  government  had  been  in  progress,  how- 
ever, for  some  years  in  France  before  Fulton  was 
called  to  England,  and  he  had  already  been  equally 
disappointed  by  the  French  government.  His  motto 
had  been,  as  he  afterward  expressed  it,  "  The  liberty 
of  the  seas  will  be  the  happiness  of  the  earth ;  "  and 
his  desire  was  to  break  up  all  naval  warfare.  He  was 
therefore  indifferent  where  or  how  his  enterprise 
should  begin.  Naval  warfare  once  rendered  impos- 
sible, the  freedom  of  the  seas  was  assured,  and  the 
liberty  and  prosperity  of  his  native  country  to  that 
extent  made  safe.  His  first  experiments  were  made 
at  least  as  early  as  1797,  when  with  the  aid  of  Mr. 
Barlow  in  Paris  he  attempted  to  make  a  form  of  what 
to-day  would  be  called  the  "automobile,"  or  self- 
moving  torpedo.  His  machine  was  intended  to  drive 
a  cigar-shaped  torpedo  in  a  definite  direction,  and  to 
a  prescribed  place,  and  there  to  fire  the  charge.  The 
experiment  was  not  a  success,  however;  and  it  was 
long  before  he  could  accomplish  anything  at  all  satis- 
factory to  himself.  The  Fulton  "  automobile  "  tor- 
pedo was  the  precursor  and  the  prototype  of  the 


72  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Lay  and  Howell,  the  Whitehead,  and  all  the  fleet  of 
torpedoes  of  modern  times. 

In  spite  of  every  discouragement,  the  great  en- 
gineer and  inventor  worked  on,  seeking  ways,  as  he 
said,  to  deliver  the  world  from  British  oppression  by 
making  the  high  seas  free  to  all.  The  Directory, 
however,  rejected  his  plans,  and  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  his  experiments.  A  change  occurred  in 
the  outlook  the  instant  the  First  Consul  took  his 
place  in  the  government.  He  was  immediately  in- 
terested in  the  plans  of  the  American  mechanic,  and 
at  once  formed  a  commission,  consisting  of  Volney, 
La  Place,  and  Monge,  all  distinguished  men,  to  inves- 
tigate the  schemes  to  be  laid  before  them.  Fulton 
built  a  submarine  boat  during  the  winter  of  1800- 
1801,  and  in  the  following  summer  invited  this  com- 
mission to  witness  experiments  with  it,  intending  to 
make  it  of  service  in  his  system  of  torpedo-warfare. 

This  "  diving-boat,"  as  he  called  it,  seems  to  have 
been  remarkably  successful,  judging  it  by  even  our 
modern  standards,  and  is  worthy  of  description.1 

In  the  course  of  his  experiments  at  Brest,  Fulton 
found  it  to  be  perfectly  practicable  to  descend  to  any 
depth,  and  to  take  any  course  that  he  might  desire. 
He  actually  entered  channels  of  twenty-five  feet  depth 
and  explored  their  deepest  soundings,  and  was  only 

1  Mr.  Fulton  had  directed  the  whole  force  of  his  mind  to 
mathematical  learning  and  mechanical  philosophy.  Plans  of 
defence  against  maritime  invasion,  and  of  sub-aquatic  naviga- 
tion, had  occupied  his  reflections.  During  the  late  war,  he  was 
the  Archimedes  of  his  country.  —  REIGART. 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  73 

prevented  from  attempting  greater  depths  by  the  fact 
that  he  had  a  boat  which  would  not  safely  withstand 
the  great  external  pressure  there  met.  The  depth 
was  determined  by  the  use  of  the  barometer,  meas- 
uring the  external  pressure,  and  he  directed  the 
course  by  means  of  the  compass.  He  found  the 
boat  as  obedient  to  the  helm  under  water  as  above. 
The  air-supply  was  renewed  by  drawing  upon  a  res- 
ervoir in  which  was  compressed  two  hundred  times 
its  volume  of  atmospheric  air.  Using  this  as  a  re- 
serve, the  inventor  was  able  to  remain  under  water 
nearly  four  hours  and  a  half. 

St.  Aubin's  account,  as  given  by  Golden,  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  diving-boat,  in  the  construction  of  which 
he  is  now  employed,  will  be  capacious  enough  to  con- 
tain eight  men,  and  provision  enough  for  twenty  days, 
and  will  be  of  sufficient  strength  and  power  to  enable 
him  to  plunge  one  hundred  feet  under  water,  if  neces- 
sary. He  has  contrived  a  reservoir  of  air,  which  will 
enable  eight  men  to  remain  under  water  eight  hours. 
When  the  boat  is  above  water  it  has  two  sails,  and 
looks  just  like  a  common  boat ;  when  she  is  to  dive, 
the  mast  and  sails  are  struck. 

"  In  making  his  experiments,  Mr.  Fulton  not  only 
remained  a  whole  hour  under  water,  with  three  of  his 
companions,  but  had  the  boat  parallel  to  the  horizon 
at  any  given  distance.  He  proved  that  the  compass 
points  as  correctly  under  the  water  as  on  the  surface, 
and  that  while  under  water  the  boat  made  way  at  the 
rate  of  half  a  league  an  hour,  by  means  contrived 
for  the  purpose. 


74  ROBER T  FUL  TON. 

"It  is  now  twenty  years,"  continues  St.  Aubin, 
"  since  all  Europe  was  astonished  at  the  first  ascension 
of  men  in  balloons ;  perhaps  in  a  few  years  they  will 
not  be  less  surprised  to  see  a  flotilla  of  diving-boats, 
which  on  a  given  signal  shall,  to  avoid  the  pursuit  of 
an  enemy,  plunge  under  water,  and  rise  again  several 
leagues  from  the  place  where  they  descended. 

"  The  invention  of  balloons  has  hitherto  been  no 
advantage,  because  no  means  have  been  found  to 
direct  their  course.  But  if  such  means  should  be 
discovered,  what  would  become  of  camps,  cannons, 
fortresses,  and  the  whole  art  of  war? 

"  But  if  we  have  not  succeeded  in  steering  the  bal- 
loon, and  even  were  it  impossible  to  attain  that  object, 
the  case  is  different  with  the  diving-boat,  which  can 
be  conducted  under  water  in  the  same  manner  as 
upon  its  surface.-  It  has  the  advantage  of  sailing 
like  the  common  boat,  and  also  of  diving  when  pur- 
sued. With  these  qualities  it  is  fit  for  carrying  secret 
orders,  to  succour  a  blockaded  fort,  and  to  examine 
the  force  and  position  of  the  enemy  in  their  harbours. 
These  are  sure  and  evident  benefits  which  the  diving- 
boat  at  present  promises.  But  who  can  see  all  the 
consequences  of  this  discovery,  or  the  improvements 
of  which  it  is  susceptible?  Mr.  Fulton  has  already 
added  to  his  boat  a  machine,  by  means  of  which  he 
blew  up  a  large  boat  in  the  port  of  Brest ;  and  if 
by  future  experiments  the  same  effect  could  be  pro- 
duced in  frigates  or  ships-of-the-line,  what  will  be- 
come of  maritime  wars,  and  where  will  sailors  be 
found  to  man  ships-of-war  when  it  is  a  physical  cer- 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  75 

tainty  that  they  may  at  every  moment  be  blown  into 
the  air  by  means  of  diving-boats,  against  which  no 
human  foresight  can  guard  them  ?  " 

It  was  in  relation  to  the  plans  of  this  boat  that  the 
keen- sighted  Napoleon  wrote  his  order  for  the  organ- 
ization of  the  commission  empowered  to  examine 
and  report  upon  Fulton's  plans,  and  of  which  order 
the  following  is  the  text :  — 

"  I  have  just  read  the  project  of  Citizen  Fulton, 
Engineer,  which  you  have  sent  me  much  too  late, 
since  it  is  one  that  may  change  the  face  of  the  world. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  I  desire  that  you  '  immediately '  con- 
fide its  examination  to  a  commission  of  members  chosen 
by  you  among  the  different  classes  of  the  Institute. 

"  There  it  is  that  learned  Europe  would  seek  for 
judges  to  resolve  the  question  under  consideration. 
A  great  truth,  a  physical,  palpable  truth,  is  before  my 
eyes.  It  will  be  for  these  gentlemen  to  try  and  seize 
it  and  see  it.  As  soon  as  their  report  is  made  it  will 
be  sent  to  you,  and  you  will  forward  it  to  me.  Try 
and  let  the  whole  be  determined  within  eight  days, 
as  I  am  impatient. 

"From  the  Imperial  Camp  at  Boulogne,  this  2ist 
July,  1801." 

Thus,  although  his  talent  as  an  inventor  and  his 
skill  as  a  great  mechanic  and  engineer  were  not  dis- 
played in  any  remarkable  way  in  the  construction  of 
his  steamboat,  they  were  exhibited  most  remarkably 
in  both  earlier  and  later  work,  and  were  most  won- 
derfully displayed  in  all  the  details  of  his  methods  of 
submarine  warfare. 


76  ROBERT  FULTON. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  all  inventions  was  this  "  div- 
ing-boat," in  which,  .like  a  veritable  Captain  Nemo, 
he  prowled  about  beneath  the  waters  of  the  harbour 
of  Brest  during  all  the  summer  of  1801,  coming  to 
the  surface  like  the  gigantic  balaena  to  get  breath, 
plunging  beneath  it  again,  rising  or  diving,  moving 
forward  or  backward,  turning  and  returning,  and  after 
a  time  coming  above  water  where  least  expected,  and 
sailing  away  like  any  of  the  commonplace  craft  with 
which  the  harbour  was  crowded.  He  spent,  at  times, 
several  hours  below  the  surface ;  and  once,  when  a 
ship  was  placed  at  his  disposal  by  Bonaparte,  then 
First  Consul,  he  attacked  her  from  beneath,  and  blew 
her  into  the  air  with  his  torpedoes. 

Fulton's  diving-boat,  the  "  Nautilus,"  and  his  power- 
ful torpedoes,  kept  the  British  fleet  in  a  state  of  per- 
petual apprehension ;  for  it  was  well  known  that  he  was 
negotiating  with  the  French  government  for  the  pur- 
chase of  his  inventions,  and  had  promised  Napoleon 
"  to  deliver  France  and  the  whole  world  from  British 
oppression." 

Dissatisfied  with  the  passive  and  uncertain  char- 
acter of  torpedoes  as  weapons  of  submarine  warfare, 
Fulton,  although  far  more  successful  in  their  use 
than  any  inventor  of  his  own  or  even  the  succeed- 
ing generation,  finally  gave  up  all  his  experiments, 
and  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  adaptation  of 
heavy  ordnance  to  use  under  water.  Returning  to 
the  United  States  in  December,  1806,  after  nearly 
twenty  years7  residence  in  Europe,  and  breaking  off 
the  fruitless  negotiations  with  the  Governments  of 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  77 

France  and  England,  in  which  he  had  sacrificed  so 
much  time  during  the  previous  five  years,  he  presented 
his  plans  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
He  received  much  encouragement  from  President 
Jefferson,  from  President  Madison,  and  from  Smith, 
the  Secretary  of  State  and  of  the  Navy  under  the 
two  Presidents. 

According  to  Golden,  in  a  paper  which  Mr.  Fulton 
read  to  certain  gentlemen  who  were  appointed  by  the 
British  ministry  in  the  month  of  August,  1806,  to 
confer  with  him,  he  says  :  "  At  all  events,  whatever 
may  be  your  award,  I  never  will  consent  to  let  these 
inventions  lie  dormant,  should  my  country  at  any 
time  have  need  of  them.  Were  you  to  grant  me  an 
annuity  of  ^20,000  a  year,  I  would  sacrifice  all  to  the 
safety  and  independence  of  my  country." 

Fulton  concludes  a  letter  to  Lord  Grenville  in  the 
following  words  :  "  It  never  has  been  my  intention 
to  hide  these  inventions  from  the  world  on  any  con- 
sideration. On  the  contrary,  it  ever  has  been  my 
intention  to  make  them  public  as  soon  as  may  be 
consistent  with  strict  justice  to  all  with  whom  I  am 
concerned.  For  myself,  I  have  ever  considered  the 
interest  of  America,  free  commerce,  the  interest  of 
mankind,  the  magnitude  of  the  object  in  view,  and 
the  national  reputation  connected  with  it,  superior  to 
all  calculations  of  a  pecuniary  nature." 

While  conducting  the  correspondence  with  Jeffer- 
son, Fulton  wrote  a  letter  describing  his  "  method  of 
firing  guns  under  water."  The  inventor  received  a 
favourable  reply  from  the  ex- President ;  and  this  letter 


78  ROBER T  FUL  TON. 

is  one  of  those  papers  which  will  always  possess  his- 
torical interest,  as  having  formed  a  part  of  the  most 
interesting  correspondence  of  those  eventful  times. 

The  greatest  naval  engineer  of  the  generation  just 
passed  away  improved  upon  the  rude  methods  and  the 
comparatively  feeble  apparatus  of  Fulton ;  and  beside 
that  latest  and  most  formidable  of  modern  engines  of 
war,  —  the  "  Destroyer  "  of  Captain  Ericsson,  —  the 
almost  forgotten,  the  never  well-known,  devices  of  the 
artist-engineer  may  appear  insignificant.  Yet  when 
the  circumstances  by  which  he  was  surrounded  are 
remembered,  the  total  lack  of  all  our  modern  knowl- 
edge of  the  technics  of  the  profession,  the  absence 
of  all  those  conveniences  that  now  seem  essential 
to  good  construction,  the  absence  of  all  our  standard 
forms  of  machinery,  the  inexperience  of  the  workmen 
who  were  necessarily  intrusted  with  the  carrying  out 
of  his  plans,  and  the  positively  obstructive  policy 
of  many  departments  of  government,  as  well  as  the 
opposition  of  rival  claimants  of  public  and  private 
countenance  and  assistance, — when  it  is  realized  how 
much  of  talent  and  how  much  of  enterprise,  energy, 
and  persistence  were  demanded  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  such  tasks  as  Robert  Fulton  so  splendidly 
and  successfully  undertook,  it  will  certainly  be  ac- 
knowledged that  he  deserves  all  the  fame  that  has 
been  accorded  him,  either  as  a  great  mechanic  or  an 
ingenious  and  successful  inventor. 

The  author  possesses  the  autographic  copy  of  the 
letter  to  President  Jefferson,  in  1813,  written  by  Ful- 
ton, and  left  among  his  papers  after  his  death.  The 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR. 


79 


following  is  the  text,  illustrated  with  pen  and  ink 
sketches,  here  reproduced  in  fac-simile,  precisely  as 
roughly  drawn  in  the  hurry  of  composition  or  of  copy- 
ing by  the  inventor,  and  with  all  the  faults  retained.1 

NEW  YORK,  June  29,  1813. 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  ESQ. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  As  you  take  a  lively  interest  in  every 
discovery  which  may  be  of  use  to  America,  I  will 
communicate  one  I  have  made,  and  on  which  I  have 
finished  some  very  satisfactory  experiments,  that 
promise  important  aid  in  enabling  us  to  enforce  a 
respect  for  our  commerce,  if  not  a  perfect  liberty  of 
the  seas.  My  researches  on  torpedoes  led  me  to 
reflections  on  firing  guns  under  water,  and  it  is  about 
a  month  since  I  commenced  a  suit  of  experiments. 


Fig.  i. — First  Experiment. 

FIRST  EXPERIMENT. 

A  gun  2  feet  long,   i  inch  diameter,  was  loaded 
with  a  lead  ball  and  one  ounce  of  powder ;  I  put  a 

1  This  letter  was  published,  with  the  consent  of  the  present 
owner,  in  the  Century  Magazine,  August,  1881. 


8o 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


tin  tube  to  the  touch-hole,  made  it  water-tight,  and 
let  it  under  water  3  feet.  Before  it  I  placed  a 
yellow-pine  plank,  4  inches  thick,  18  inches  from  the 
muzzle.  On  firing,  the  ball  went  through  the  18 
inches  of  water  and  the  plank.  When  the  gun  is 
loaded  as  usual,  a  tompkin  or  plug  is  put  in  the 
muzzle,  to  keep  the  water  out  of  the  barrel,  as  at  A. 
In  this  experiment  the  gun  being  immersed,  with  the 
pressure  of  three  feet  of  water  on  all  its  parts,  that 
circumstance  might  be  assigned  as  a  reason  for  its  not 
bursting.  It  then  became  necessary  to  try  the  effect 
with  the  muzzle  in  water  and  the  breech  in  air. 


Fig.  2.  —  Second  Experiment. 

SECOND  EXPERIMENT. 

I  procured  a  common  wine  pipe  and  inserted  the 
gun,  loaded  as  before,  into  one  end,  near  the  bottom ; 
the  muzzle  in  the  wine  pipe  6  inches,  the  breech  out 
1 8  inches.  The  pipe  was  then  filled  with  water  to 
the  bunghole,  having  a  head  of  water  of  2  feet  3 
inches  above  the  gun,  and  a  body  of  water  three  feet 
long,  through  which  the  bullet  had  to  pass.  I  then 
placed  the  opposite  end  of  the  pipe  against  a  yellow- 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR. 


81 


pine  post,  in  such  manner  that  if  the  ball  went 
through  the  water  and  pipe,  it  should  enter  the  post. 
I  fired.  The  ball  passed  through  the  three  feet  of 
water,  the  end  of  the  pipe,  and  7  inches  into  the 
post;  the  cask  was  blown  to  pieces,  the  gun  not 
injured. 

THIRD  EXPERIMENT. 

I  obtained  a  cannon,  —  a  4-pounder,  —  for  which 
I  cast  a  lead  ball  that  weighed  6  pounds  2  ounces; 
the  charge  i^  pounds  of  powder.  I  placed  it  under 
water  4  feet,  fired  at  a  target  distant  12  feet.  The 
ball  passed  through  the  1 2  feet  of  water,  and  a  yellow- 
pine  log  15  inches  thick;  the  gun  not  injured. 


Fig.  3.  —  Fourth  Experiment. 


FOURTH  EXPERIMENT. 

I  put  an  air  box  round  the  same  cannon,  except 
one  foot  of  the  muzzle,  so  that  the  muzzle  might  be 
in  water,  the  breech  in  air,  then  let  it  under  water 
4  feet,  and  fired  as  before  through  12  feet  of  water 
and  1 5  inches  of  yellow-pine ;  gun  not  injured. 

6 


82 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


FIFTH  EXPERIMENT. 

I  ordered  a  frame  to  be  made  of  two  pine  logs, 
each  13  inches  square,  45  feet  long,  on  one  end  of 
which  I  placed  a  columbiad  carrying  a  ball  9  inches 
diameter,  100  pounds  weight.  On  the  other  end  I 
erected  a  target  6  feet  square,  3  feet  thick,  of  sea- 
soned, sound  oak,  braced  and  bolted  very  strong,  thus. 


Fig.  4.  —  Fifth  Experiment. 

The  columbiad,  except  two  feet  of  the  muzzle,  was  in 
an  air  box,  the  muzzle  24  feet  6  inches  from  the  tar- 
get, the  charge  of  powder  10  pounds.  When  fired, 
the  ball  entered  only  9  inches,  —  that  is,  its  diameter, 
—  into  the  oak ;  the  columbiad  not  injured.  This 
experiment  proved  the  range  of  24  feet  6  inches 
through  the  water  to  be  too  great. 

SIXTH  EXPERIMENT. 

I  took  away  the  columbiad  and  box,  and  put  a 
24-pounder  in  its  place,  loaded  with  9  pounds  of 
powder,  the  muzzle  22  feet  from  the  target.  On 
firing,  it  entered  the  target  only  its  diameter,  —  that 
is,  about  6  inches.  Without  mathematical  experience, 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  83 

the  conclusion  would  have  been  that  the  24-pounder, 
having  a  quantity  of  powder  equal  to  near  one  half 
the  weight  of  the  ball,  and  the  ball,  5^  inches  diam- 
eter, presenting  little  more  than  one  third  the  resist- 
ance to  the  water  and  wood  that  was  presented  by 
the  9 -inch  ball,  it  should  have  entered  further  into  the 
target.  //  did  not ;  momentum  was  wanting. 

SEVENTH  EXPERIMENT. 

I  loaded  the  columbiad  with  12  pounds  of  powder, 
and  placed  the  muzzle  6  feet  from  the  target,  the 
muzzle  of  the  gun  2  feet  under  water;  the  place 
where  the  ball  struck  the  target  5  feet  under  water. 
In  this  case,  the  ball  went  through  the  target  3  feet 
thick,  and  where  is  not  known ;  the  target  was  torn 
to  pieces.  In  this  experiment  I  fortunately  proved 
beyond  a  doubt  that  columbiad s  can  drive  balls  of 
one  hundred  pounds  weight  through  six  feet  of 
water  and  the  side  of  a  first  rate  man-of-war. 

On  examining  Doctor  Hutton's  experiments  and 
theory  of  projectiles  in  air,  and  comparing  the  den- 
sity of  air  with  water,  the  theory  is  that  the  colum- 
biad fired  might  have  been  10  feet  from  the  target; 
the  ball  would  then  have  struck  with  a  velocity  of 
650  feet  a  second,  and  have  passed  through  3  feet 
of  oak.  Had  the  columbiad  been  16  feet  long,  and 
made  of  a  strength  to  fire  with  20  pounds  of  pow- 
der, the  range  might  have  been  15  feet  through 
water.  But  I  will  take  the  medium  distance  of  10 
feet,  and  then  the  first  undeniable  principle  is,  that 
one  vessel  can  range  alongside  of  another  within  io; 


84 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


or  6,  or  even  5  feet,  when  giving  the  broadside  of 
only  two  9 -inch  balls  through  the  side  of  the  en- 
emy, 8  feet  below  her  water-line.  The  water  would 
rush  in  with  a  velocity  of  16  feet  in  a  second,  and 
sink  her  in  20  or  30  minutes;  but  from  what  I 
have  seen  in  this  sluggish  kind  of  shot,  I  believe  if 
they  were  put  in  about  5  feet  from  each  other 
they  would  destroy  timbers  between  the  two  points 
of  shock,  and  open  a  space  of  many  square  feet,  as 
thus.  To  put  this  discovery  of  submarine  firing  into 


Fig.  5. 

practice  against  the  enemy,  I  have  invented  a  mode 
for  placing  my  columbiads  in  ships,  from  4  to  8  feet 
below  the  water-line,  as  in  the  following  drawing. 


Fig.  6. 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR. 


85 


My  guns  are  to  be  cast  with    two    rims    round    the 
muzzle,  thus.     The  space  a,  b,  to  be  woulded  with 


Fig.  7- 

hemp,  and  covered  with  thick  leather ;  the  gun  then 
forms  a  piston  like  that  of  a  steam-engine  or  the  pis- 
ton of  a  forcing-pump.  The  gun  so  prepared,  there  is 
a  brass  cylinder,  with  a  strong  head,  cast,  and  bored, 
and  bolted  in  the  side  of  the  vessel.  When,  as  in 
Figure  8,  the  gun  is  run  into  this  cylinder,  it  fits  it 
exactly  as  the  piston  does  a  pump ;  then  if  the 
caliber  of  the  gun  be  9  inches  diameter,  there  must 
be  a  hole  through  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder  of  1 1 
inches,  as  at  C,  to  let  the  bullet  pass,  which  hole  is 
covered  with  a  strong  sliding 
valve,  the  axis  of  which  comes 
inside  of  the  vessel,  as  at  D ; 
when  the  gun  is  run  into  the 
cylinder  and  ready  to  be  fired, 
the  valve  opens.  On  firing,  the 
gun  recoils,  shuts  the  valve,  and 
stops  out  the  water.  Thus  my  Fig>  8> 

guns  can  be  loaded  and  fired 

under  the  water-line  with  near  the  same  ease  they  are 
now  worked  above  the  water-line.  My  present  idea 
is  to  have  four  columbiads  on  each  side  of  a  vessel, 


86  ROBERT  FULTON. 

and  two  in  her  bow,  so  that,  whether  she  runs  bow  or 
side  on  to  the  enemy,  the  bullets  must  pass  through  her, 
as  in  Figure  9.  You  will  observe,  in  these  sketches, 
that  not  using  guns  above  the  water-line,  I  have  no 
port-holes,  and  the  sides  above  the  water  may  be  7 
or  8  feet  thick,  of  pine  logs,  which  renders  them 
not  only  bullet-proof,  but  the  vessel  so  buoyant  that 
she  cannot  be  sunk  in  this  manner.  My  men  who 
work  the  guns  are  out  of  danger  under  the  water- 
line,  and  those  who  steer  or  work  the  sails  are 
guarded  by  walls  of  wood,  as  A,  B,  Figure  6.  For 


Fig.  9. 

harbour  defence,  and  perhaps  finally  for  service,  I 
have  combined  a  steam-engine  with  this  kind  of 
vessel,  to  bring  her  up  to  the  enemy  in  a  calm,  or 
light  breezes.  In  harbours  I  would  not  use  masts 
or  rigging ;  there  would  be  nothing  to  shoot  away, 
nor  to  hold  by  in  case  of  attempts  at  boardage ; 
and  in  such  case,  as  my  deck  would  not  be  wanted 
for  fighting  or  any  other  purpose,  while  in  action  I 
could  make  it  inclined  to  twenty-five  degrees,  and 
slush  it  so  that  boarders  could  not  keep  their  feet, 
but  must  slide  into  the  water,  they  not  having  a  pin 
or  rope  to  hold  by.  The  steam-engine  would  give 
a  vessel  of  this  description  the  means  of  playing 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  87 

around  the  enemy,  to  take  choice  of  position  on 
her  bow  or  quarter,  and  with  little  or  no  risk  sink 
everything  that  came  into  our  waters. 

For  sea  service  we  must  depend  more  on  num- 
bers, of  which  the  calculations  are  in  favour  of  my 
plan,  - 

A  seventy-four  will  cost  $600,000,  and  then  the 
seventy- four  of  an  enemy  is  equal  to  her  in  power. 
The  enemy  also  have  such  fleets  as  will  enable  them 
to  bring  two  to  one  ;  therefore  the  chances  are  against 
us.  For  $600,000  I  can  build  seven  vessels.  Were 
they  to  attack  a  seventy- four,  she  could  not  dis- 
mast the  whole  of  them ;  some  one  must  get  within 
the  range  of  eight  or  ten  feet  of  her,  where  one  fire 
from  any  one  of  them  would  certainly  destroy 
her.  This  changes  the  chances  seven  to  one  in 
our  favour,  and  against  the  enemy,  for  the  same 
capital  expended. 

This  represents  the  seven  vessels  bearing  down  on 


Fig.  10. 


an  enemy.     Here  it  is  obvious  that  she  cannot  bring 
her  guns  to  bear  on  more  than  one  or  two  of  them  ; 


88 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


if  she  lies  to  to  fight,  they  must  surround  her;  but 
if  she  sails  better  than  any  of  them,  and  runs  away, 
our  object  is  gained,  for  then  she  can  be  driven  off 
the  ocean  into  port.  As  columbiads  of  9-inch  cal- 
iber are  tremendous  engines  for  close  quarters,  I 
could  have  two  on  pivots  and  circular  carriages  within 
my  wooden  walls,  as  thus,  which  being  loaded  with 


Fig.  11. 

semi- shot  and  chains  twenty  feet  long,  would  at  two 
hundred  yards  distance,  while  bearing  down,  cut  her 
rigging,  and  disable  her  before  coming  to  close  action. 
We  are  now  engaged  in  a  war  for  principles  important 
to  our  independence  and  interest  as  an  active  and 
great  commercial  nation,  and  if  we  fail,  generations 
to  come  must  contend  for  it  until  they  succeed.  At 
all  events,  millions  must  be  expended,  which,  if  as 
successful  as  our  present  hope,  will  fall  far  short  of 
the  liberty  of  the  seas.  In  expectation  to  discover 
in  the  concealed  magazines  of  science  some  certain 
mode  for  destroying  military  navies,  and  thereby 
establishing  a  perfect  liberty  of  the  seas,  I  have  la- 
boured at  intervals  with  much  ardour  for  thirteen 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  89 

years.  I  now  submit  to  your  reflections  whether  I 
have  found  it.  My  present  impression,  and  Com- 
modore Decatur's,  is  that  I  have.  This  is  also  the 
opinion  of  many  friends.  For  you  will  consider,  that 
if  those  vessels  can  destroy  such  as  now  exist,  they 
cannot  be  used  against  each  other  without  both  par- 
ties going  to  the  bottom ;  and  such  war  cannot  be 
made,  —  as  duels  would  never  be  fought  if  both 
parties  were  obliged  to  sit  on  a  cask  of  powder,  and 
ignite  it  with  a  quick-match. 

Two  millions  of  dollars  would  build  twenty  such 
vessels ;  sixty  men  to  each  would  be  sufficient.  Total, 
twelve  hundred  men.  Such  a  fleet  would  clear  our 
coast;  and  the  probability  is  it  would  be  the  most 
powerful  fleet  in  the  world.  One,  however,  should 
be  built  by  Government,  to  establish  principles  on  the 
public  mind  which  are  already  proved  in  private. 
On  the  whole  of  this  subject,  after  you  have  maturely 
reflected,  it  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  have  your 
opinions ;  and  if  it  coincides  with  mine,  your  influence 
at  Washington  may  be  necessary  to  carry  it  into  effect. 
I  sincerely  hope  this  new  art  may  give  many  pleasing 
hours  to  your  evening  of  life.  As  this  wish  is  from 
the  heart,  it  is  better  than  the  usual  unmeaning  com- 
pliments with  which  letters  are  concluded. 

ROBERT  FULTON. 

SPECIFICATION. 

I,  Robert  Fulton,  give  the  following  specification  of 
my  invention  for  injuring  or  destroying  ships  and  vessels 
of  war,  by  igniting  gunpowder  below  a  line  horizontal  to 


90  ROBERT  FULTON. 

the  surface  of  the  water,  or  so  that  the  explosion  which 
causes  injury  to  the  vessel  attacked  shall  be  under 
water.  Therefore,  instead  of  having  the  cannon  and 
port-holes  of  a  ship  or  vessel  of  war  as  usual,  above 
the  surface  of  the  water,  I  place  my  cannon  so  low  in 
the  vessel  that  their  port-holes  will  be  below  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  any  number  of  inches  or  feet  which 
may  be  required,  from  six  inches  to  four,  six,  ten,  or 
more  feet ;  and  thus,  the  cannon  being  fired  with  its 
muzzle  under  water,  the  bullets  will  pass  through  the 
water  instead  of  through  air,  and  through  the  sides 
of  the  enemy,  from  one  to  ten  or  more  feet  below  the 
water-line,  which,  letting  in  the  water  in  quantity  ac- 
cording to  the  size  of  the  holes  and  their  depth  under 
the  surface,  will  sink  the  vessel  attacked. 

DRAWING  THE  FIRST 

represents  the  mechanism  by  which  a  cannon  may 
be  loaded  inside  of  a  ship,  its  muzzle  be  presented  to 
hole  in  the  side  of  the  ship  below  the  water-line,  then 
be  fired,  its  ball  pass  out  through  water,  the  cannon 
recoil  into  the  ship,  and  the  port-hole  shut  without 
letting  in  any  inconvenient  quantity  of  water.  The 
gun  may  again  be  loaded  and  fired  as  before. 

For  this  purpose  a  ring  or  flange  is  cast  round  the 
cannon,  near  its  muzzle,  which  may  be  filled  in  with 
hemp  like  the  packing  of  the  piston  of  a  steam-engine, 
or  with  leather,  like  the  piston  of  a  pump ;  a  strong 
cylinder  of  brass  or  iron,  or  the  most  fit  metal  for  the 
water  in  which  it  is  to  be  used,  is  to  be  neat  and 
smoothly  bored,  like  the  air-pump  or  cylinder  of  a 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  91 

steam-engine,  and  of  a  size  exact  to  receive  the 
muzzle  of  the  cannon,  with  its  before-mentioned 
packing ;  hence,  when  the  muzzle  is  pushed  into  the 
cylinder,  it  will  be  air  and  water  tight,  like  the  piston 
of  a  forcing-pump.  The  cylinder  may  be  one,  two, 
or  more  feet  long,  as  the  use  may  require ;  on  its 
outer  end  a  strong  head  and  flange  cast,  which  flange 
receives  screw-bolts,  to  fasten  it  tight  in  the  side  of 
the  vessel.  In  the  centre  of  the  said  head  there  is  a 
hole  two  inches  in  diameter  greater  than  the  caliber 
of  the  cannon  to  be  used  for  the  cylinder.  The 
cannon  being  run  home  until  its  muzzle  touches  the 
head  of  the  cylinder,  as  in  the  drawing,  the  cover  to 
the  hole  is  to  be  turned  to  one  side,  and  the  cannon 
fired,  the  ball  and  charge  passing  through  the  hole. 
On  the  recoil  of  the  cannon,  the  sliding  piece  which 
covers  the  hole  will  descend  and  stop  out  the  water. 
On  this  plan  the  cannon  may  be  mounted  on  a  car- 
riage with  wheels  or  not,  as  future  experience  may 
prove  best,  and  always  recoil,  and  be  worked  in  a  line 
direct  to  the  cylinder  which  is  to  receive  the  muzzle. 
In  my  experience  so  far,  when  the  cannon  is  loaded 
as  usual,  I  put  a  kind  of  tompkin  or  stopper  in  the 
muzzle,  with  canvas  and  white  lead  to  keep  the  water 
out  of  the  gun.  Thus  I  have  found  the  gun  to  fire 
perfectly  well  without  any  risk  or  accident.  Although 
this  mode  may  be  good  in  practice,  I  do  not  posi- 
tively know  that  the  water  might  not  be  admitted  into 
the  gun,  up  to  a  water-tight  wad.  The  first  plan 
will  do ;  the  latter  may  be  proved  in  future  practice. 
Cannon  may  be  thus  arranged  under  the  water-line 
in  such  vessels  of  war  as  are  usually  built ;  but  as  the 


92  ROBER T  FUL  TON. 

whole  battery  comes  below  water,  and  may  be  several 
feet  below,  the  vessel  above  the  water-line  may  be 
made  five,  six,  or  more  feet  thick,  of  pine  logs  or 
other  wood,  of  hay  or  cotton  or  old  rope  or  cabbage- 
tree,  or  any  kind  of  material  which  will  be  bullet- 
proof. Thus  all  the  men  will  be  out  of  danger,  as  in 
the  drawing. 

Cannon  may  be  placed  in  the  bow  of  a  vessel,  near 
the  keel  as  in  drawing,  or  suspended  over  the  bow  or 
sides  as  in  drawings,  and  be  fired  with  water-proof 
locks,  constructed  for  common  or  fulminating  powder. 
Various  other  modes  of  practice  may  be  devised  ;  but 
the  whole  merit  of  this  invention  consists  in  having 
discovered  and  proved  that  cannon  can  be  fired  to 
greater  advantage  for  the  destruction  or  annoyance 
of  an  enemy,  when  so  placed  that  the  muzzle  shall 
be  under  water,  and  the  ball  pass  through  water  for 
the  whole  or  greater  part  of  the  space  it  has  to  go  till 
it  strikes  the  enemy.  The  practice  then  will  be  with 
strong  bullet-proof  vessels  to  run  alongside  of  an 
enemy  within  thirty,  twenty,  or  ten  feet,  give  her  a 
broadside  of  one,  two,  three,  four,  or  more  heavy 
pieces  from  thirty-two  to  one-hundred  pounders, 
from  four  to  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  below  the  water- 
line,  and  retire.  Of  this  whole  system  of  firing  can- 
non, carronades,  columbiads,  or  ordnance  of  any 
kind  under  water,  so  as  thus  to  attack  an  enemy  to 
advantage,  I  claim  to  be  the  original  inventor;  and 
claiming  it  as  my  right,  I  have  deemed  it  sufficient  to 
give  one  mechanical  and  practicable  combination,  — 
being  improvements  previous  to  further  experiments. 
But  any  attempt  to  fire  any  kind  of  ordnance  under 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  93 

water  in  attacks  on  vessels  of  war,  or  maritime  com- 
bat, will  be  considered  a  violation  of  my  right  and 
purvey  of  my  invention. 

(Signed)  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Fulton  had  been  in  America  but  a  few  weeks  when 
he  collected  his  papers  and  drawings  and  went  to 
Washington,  to  urge  upon  the  Government  his  plan 
for  torpedo  and  submarine  warfare.  He  secured  a 
small  appropriation,  returned  to  New  York,  set  up  his 
apparatus  on  Governor's  Island,  and  prepared  to  ex- 
plain it  to  the  representatives  of  the  army  and  navy, 
and  such  others  as  were  interested  in  the  subject. 
He  carried  out  a  series  of  experimental  demonstra- 
tions of  the  value  of  his  inventions,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  blew  up  a  vessel  provided  by  the  Govern- 
ment for  the  purpose,  in  the  harbour  of  New  York, 
and  completely  annihilated  it,  or,  as  Fulton  himself 
said,  "decomposed"  it. 

Descriptions  of  his  inventions  and  of  his  experi- 
ments were,  a  little  later,  published  by  Fulton,  in  his 
"  Torpedo  War,"  a  book  addressed  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States  and  Members  of  Congress.  The 
result  was  that  Congress  passed  an>act  permitting  the 
extension  of  these  experiments,  and  for  some  years 
after  this  date  (1810),  in  fact  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  Fulton  was  engaged  intermittently  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  his  studies,  and  in  experiments  in  this 
direction.  A  commission  was  appointed  to  witness 
and  report  on  his  work,  and  Government  continued 
its  interest  in  the  subject  to  the  end. 


94  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Reigart  says  that  Chancellor  Livingston,  after  a 
long  examination  of  each  particular  subject  which 
the  experiments  had  suggested,  expressed  himself  as 
follows  :  — 

"  Upon  the  whole,  I  view  this  application  of  powder 
as  one  of  the  most  important  military  discoveries 
which  some  centuries  have  produced.  It  appears  to 
me  to  be  capable  of  effecting  the  absolute  security  of 
your  ports  against  naval  aggression,  provided  that,  in 
conjunction  with  it,  the  usual  means  necessary  to 
occupy  the  attention  of  the  enemy  are  not  neglected." 

The  reports  were  forwarded  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  by  Mr.  Fulton,  with  a  letter  from  himself.  His 
buoyant  mind  was  never  to  be  depressed.  He  gives 
his  own  views  of  the  experiments,  and  writes  with 
increased  confidence  in  his  ultimate  success.  He 
expresses  himself  satisfied  with  the  report  of  the 
committee,  and  thinks  their  opinions  were  as  favour- 
able to  the  infant  art  as,  under  the  circumstances, 
could  have  been  expected.  It  is  due  to  Mr.  Fulton 
to  give  some  extracts  from  this  letter.  He  says  :  — 

"  It  is  proved  and  admitted,  first,  that  the  water- 
proof locks  will  ignite  gunpowder  under  water ;  sec- 
ondly, it  is  proved  that  seventy  pounds  of  powder, 
exploded  under  the  bottom  of  a  vessel  of  two  hun- 
dred tons,  will  blow  her  up ;  hence  it  is  admitted, 
that  if  a  sufficient  quantity  of  powder  —  and  which 
I  believe  need  not  be  more  than  two  hundred  pounds 
—  be  ignited  under  the  bottom  of  a  first-rate  man-of- 
war,  it  would  instantly  destroy  her;  thirdly,  it  is 
proved  and  admitted  by  all  parties  concerned  in  the 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  95 

experiments,  that  a  gun  can  be  fired  under  water,  and 
that  a  cable  of  any  size  can  be  cut  by  that  means,  at 
any  required  depth.  With  these  immediately  impor- 
tant principles  proved  and  admitted,  the  question 
naturally  occurs,  whether  there  be,  within  the  genius 
or  inventive  faculties  of  man,  the  means  of  placing  a 
torpedo  under  a  ship  in  defiance  of  her  powers  of 
resistance.  He  who  says  that  there  is  not,  and  that 
consequently  torpedoes  never  can  be  rendered  useful, 
must  of  course  believe  that  he  has  penetrated  to  the 
limits  of  man's  inventive  powers,  and  that  he  has 
contemplated  all  the  combinations  and  arrangements 
which  present  or  future  ingenuity  can  devise  to  place 
a  torpedo  under  a  ship.  I  will  do  justice  to  the 
talents  of  Commodore  Rodgers.  The  nets,  booms, 
kentledge,  and  grapnels  which  he  arranged  around  the 
1  Argus '  made  a  formidable  appearance  against  one 
torpedo  boat  and  eight  bad  oarsmen.  I  was  taken 
unawares.  I  had  explained  to  the  officers  of  the 
navy  my  means  of  attack ;  they  did  not  inform  me 
of  their  means  of  defence.  The  nets  were  put  down 
to  the  ground;  otherwise  I  should  have  sent  the 
torpedoes  under  them.  In  this  situation,  the  means 
I  was  provided  with  being  imperfect,  insignificant,  and 
inadequate  to  the  effect  to  be  produced,  I  might  be 
compared  to  what  the  inventor  of  gunpowder  would 
have  appeared,  had  he  lived  in  the  time  of  Julius 
Caesar,  and  presented  himself  before  the  gates  of 
Rome  with  a  four-pounder,  and  had  endeavoured  to 
convince  the  Roman  people  that  by  means  of  such 
machines  he  could  batter  down  their  walls.  They 


96  ROBERT  FULTON. 

would  have  told  him  that  a  few  catapultas,  casting 
arrows  and  stones  upon  his  men,  would  cause  them 
to  retreat;  that  a  shower  of  rain  would  destroy  his 
ill-guarded  powder ;  and  the  Roman  centurions,  who 
would  have  been  unable  to  conceive  the  various 
modes  in  which  gunpowder  has  since  been  used  to 
destroy  the  then  art  of  war,  would  very  naturally 
conclude  that  it  was  an  useless  invention ;  while  the 
manufacturers  of  catapultas,  bows,  arrows,  and  shields, 
would  be  the  most  vehement  against  further  experi- 
ments. I  had  not  one  man  instructed  in  the  use  of 
the  machines,  nor  had  I  time  to  reflect  on  this  mode 
of  defending  a  vessel.  I  have  now,  however,  had 
time;  and  I  feel  confident  that  I  have  discovered 
a  means  which  will  render  nets  to  the  ground, 
booms,  kentledge,  grapnel,  oars  with  sword-blades, 
through  the  port-holes,  and  all  such  kinds  of  opera- 
tions, totally  useless." 

The  day  after  this  most  striking  experiment,  Mr. 
Fulton  addressed  a  letter  to  the  governor,  and  the 
mayor,  and  members  of  the  corporation  of  New  York, 
from  which  the  following  are  extracts  :  — 

"  Yesterday  my  desire  to  satisfy  public  curiosity  at 
the  stated  minute  was  as  great  as  my  never-ceasing 
anxiety  to  see  our  harbours  and  coast  placed  beyond 
the  power  of  foreign  insults,  and  I  lament  exceedingly 
that  numbers  were  disappointed  by  the  explosion  not 
taking  on  the  first  attack,  but  it  has  given  me  much 
additional  confidence  in  my  engines. 

"  On  taking  the  torpedoes  out  of  the  water,  where 
they  had  been  for  two  hours,  I  found  the  locks  and 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  97 

powder  perfectly  dry.  I  immediately  discovered  the 
cause  of  the  failure,  which  I  corrected  by  placing  a 
piece  of  quick-match  in  the  charge  which  the  lock 
contained.  Thus  arranged,  the  fire  was  communi- 
cated to  the  seventy  pounds  of  powder  in  the  body 
of  the  torpedoes,  an  explosion  took  place,  and  the 
brig  was  decomposed. 

"You  have  now  seen  the  effect  of  the  explosion 
of  powder  under  the  bottom  of  a  vessel ;  and  this,  I 
believe,  is  the  best  and  most  simple  mode  of  using  it 
with  the  greatest  effect  in  marine  wars ;  for  a  right 
application  of  one  torpedo  will  annihilate  a  ship,  nor 
leave  a  man  to  relate  the  dreadful  catastrophe.  Thus, 
should  a  ship-of-the-line,  containing  five  hundred 
men,  contend  with  ten  good  row-boats,  each  with  a 
torpedo  and  ten  men,  she  would  risk  total  annihila- 
tion, while  the  boats  under  the  cover  of  the  night, 
and  quick  movements,  would  risk  only  a  few  men  out 
of  a  hundred. 

"  When  .two  ships  of  equal  force  engage,  it  may  be 
doubtful  which  will  gain  the  victory.  Frequently 
one  hundred  men  are  killed  on  each  side,  as  many 
wounded,  and  the  ships  much  injured ;  but  even  the 
vanquished  vessels  will  admit  of  being  repaired,  and 
thus  the  number  of  ships-of-war  is  not  diminished, 
but  continue  to  increase  and  tyrannize  over  the  rights 
of  neutrals  and  peaceable  nations. 

"  Having  now  clearly  demonstrated  the  great  effect 

of  explosion  under  water,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that 

by  organization  and  practice  the  application  of  the 

torpedoes  will,  like  every  other  art,  progress  in  per- 

7 


98  ROBERT  FULTON. 

fection.  Little  difficulties  and  errors  will  occur  in  the 
commencement,  as  has  been  the  case  in  all  new  inven- 
tions ;  but  where  there  is  little  expense,  so  little  risk, 
and  so  much  to  be  gained,  it  is  worthy  of  considera- 
tion whether  this  system  should  not  have  a  fair  trial. 
Gunpowder,  within  the  last  three  hundred  years,  has 
totally  changed  the  art  of  war,  and  all  my  reflections 
have  led  me  to  believe  that  this  application  of  it  will 
in  a  few  years  put  a  stop  to  maritime  wars,  give  that 
liberty  of  the  seas  which  has  been  long  and  anxiously 
desired  by  every  good  man,  and  secure  to  America 
that  liberty  of  commerce,  tranquillity,  and  indepen- 
dence, which  will  enable  her  citizens  to  apply  their 
mental  and  corporeal  faculties  to  useful  and  humane 
pursuits,  to  the  improvement  of  our  country,  and  the 
happiness  of  the  whole  people." 

Golden  describes  one  of  these  schemes  as  almost 
the  last  work  in  which  the  active  and  ingenious  mind 
of  Mr.  Fulton  was  engaged.  This  was  a  project  for 
the  modification  of  his  submarine  boat.  "  He  had 
contrived  a  vessel  which  was  to  have  a  capacity,  by 
means  of  an  air-chamber  like  that  which  was  in  his 
'  Nautilus,'  to  be  kept  at  a  greater  or  less  depth  in 
the  water,  but  so  that  her  deck  should  not  be  sub- 
merged. That  chamber  communicated  with  the 
water,  and  was  shaped  like  a  diving-bell ;  but  it  could 
at  pleasure,  by  an  air-pump,  be  exhausted  of  air,  and 
then  it  would,  of  course,  fill  with  water ;  or  any  requi- 
site quantity  of  air  could  be  forced  into  it,  so  as  to 
expel  the  water  from  it  entirely.  The  sides  of  the 
vessel  were  to  be  of  the  ordinary  thickness,  but  her 


THE  ENGINEER  AS  INVENTOR.  99 

deck  was  to  be  stout  and  plated  with  iron,  so  as  to 
render  it  ball-proof,  which  would  not  require  so  much 
strength  as  might  be  at  first  imagined,  because,  as  no 
shot  could  strike  it  from  a  vessel  but  at  a  very  great 
angle,  the  ball  would  ricochet  on  a  slight  resistance 
from  a  hard  substance.  She  was  to  be  of  a  size 
capable  of  sheltering  a  hundred  men  under  her  deck, 
and  was  to  be  moved  by  a  wheel  placed  in  another 
air-chamber  near  the  stern,  so  that  when  the  vessel 
was  to  be  propelled  only  a  part  of  the  under  paddles 
should  be  in  water ;  at  least,  the  upper  half  of  the 
wheel,  or  more,  moving  in  air.  The  wheel  was  to  be 
turned  by  a  crank  attached  to  a  shaft,  that  should 
penetrate  the  stern  to  the  air-chamber  through  a 
stuffing-box,  and  run  along  the  middle  of  the  boat 
until  it  approaches  her  bows.  Through  this  shaft 
rungs  were  to  be  passed,  of  which  the  crew  were  to 
take  hold  as  they  were  seated  upon  each  side  of  it  on 
benches.  By  merely  pushing  the  shaft  backward  and 
forward  the  water-wheel  would  be  turned,  and  the 
boat  be  propelled  with  a  velocity  equal  to  the  force 
of  a  hundred  men.  By  means  of  the  air-chamber, 
she  was  to  be  kept,  when  not  in  hostile  action,  upon 
the  surface,  as  common  boats  are ;  but  when  in  reach 
of  an  enemy  she  was  to  sink,  so  that  nothing  but  her 
deck  would  be  exposed  to  his  view  or  to  his  fire. 
Her  motion  when  in  this  situation  would  be  perfectly 
silent,  and  therefore  he  called  this  contrivance  a 
mute.  His  design  was  that  she  should  approach  an, 
enemy,  which  he  supposed  she  might  do  in  fogs  or 
in  the  night,  withouj  being  heard  or  discovered,  and 


ioo  ROBERT  FULTON. 

do  execution  by  means  of  his  torpedoes  or  submarine 
guns.  He  presented  a  model  of  this  vessel  to  the 
Government,  by  which  it  was  approved ;  and  under 
the  authority  of  the  Executive  he  commenced  build- 
ing one  in  this  port ;  but  before  the  hull  was  entirely 
finished,  his  country  had  to  lament  his  death,  and 
the  mechanics  he  had  employed  were  incapable  of 
proceeding  without  him."  1 

1  Colden's  Life  of  Fulton,  p.  233. 


THE   "CLERMONT."  IOI 


VI. 

FULTON'S  EXPERIMENTS  WITH  STEAM.  —  THE 
"CLERMONT." 

IN  the  opening  chapter  of  this  book  we  have  traced 
the  progress  of  invention  in  the  applications  of  steam, 
especially  in  the  direction  of  its  use  in  navigation,  and 
have  seen  how  the  minds  of  all  great  philosophers  and 
mechanics  were  turning  toward  the  solution  of  this 
now  visible  and  almost  imperative  problem.  It  has 
been  seen  that,  before  Fulton's  experiments  were 
begun,  a  number  of  inventors  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic  were  engaged  in  the  work,  and  that  some 
progress  had  been  made ;  so  much,  in  fact,  that  the 
outcome  could  hardly  be  doubted.  Papin  had,  early 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  as  we  have  seen,  actually 
built  a  steamboat;  Jonathan  Hulls,  in  1737,  secured 
British  patents  on  another  form  ;  William  Henry  had 
put  his  little  boat  on  the  Conastoga  River  in  1763  ; 
the  Comte  d'Auxiron  had  launched  a  steamer  on 
French  waters  in  1774;  ten  years  later  Oliver  Evans 
and  James  Rumsey  came  forward  with  their  peculiar 
systems  of  propulsion ;  John  Fitch  appeared  at  about 
the  same  date,  1785,  building  a  number  of  boats, 
and  succeeding,  apparently,  in  attaining  seven  miles 
an  hour  in  his  boat  of  1790,  and  making  a  total  of 
several  thousands  of  miles  in  its  regular  work  as  a 


102  ROBERT  FULTON. 

passenger  boat  between  Philadelphia  and  Borden- 
town,  Pennsylvania.  Fitch's  screw-boat,  built  forty- 
five  years  after  Bernouilli  had  written  his  prize-essay 
suggesting  the  use  of  the  "  spiral  oar,"  —  as  James  Watt 
called  it  when  proposing  it,  independently,  about  1 784, 
—  was  sufficiently  satisfactory,  as  proving  the  practica- 
bility of  the  device,  when  tried  on  Collect  Pond,  in 
New  York  City,  in  1796.  His  contemporary  in 
France,  the  Marquis  de  Jouffroy,  had  built  two  steam- 
ers on  the  Rhone,  in  1 781— 1 783  ;  and  in  Scotland,  Mil- 
ler, Taylor,  and  Symmington  had  almost  succeeded, 
their  efforts  finally  resulting  in  a  real  success,  in  1801, 
when  the  Charlotte  Dundas  was  built  as  a  "  stern- 
wheeler"  on  the  Forth  and^  Clyde  Canal.  Samuel 
Morey  had  put  a  little  steamer  on  the  Connecticut  in 
1 790,  and  many  other  mechanics  and  inventors  were 
busy  in  the  same  work  by  the  time  Fulton  had  reached 
that  problem,  among  whom  were  two  of  Fulton's  own 
later  friends  —  Livingston  and  Roosevelt,  —  and  his 
most  enterprising  rival,  John  Stevens,  the-  four  working 
together  to  build  a  boat  on  the  Passaic  River  in  1798. 
Fulton  had,  as  early  as  1798,  proposed  plans  for 
steam-vessels  to  both  the  United  States  and  British 
governments.1  He  had  been  too  busy  with  his  other 
schemes  to  pay  much  attention  to  this  until  satisfied 
that  he  was  to  expect  nothing  from  the  former. 

Fulton's  experiments  began  while  he  was  in  Paris, 
and  may  have  been  stimulated  by  his  acquaintance 
with  Chancellor  Livingston,  who  held  the  monopoly, 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  R.  H.  Thurston ;  Life  of 
Fulton,  Golden. 


THE  "CLERMONT."  103 

offered  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
for  the  navigation  of  the  Hudson  River,  to  be  ac- 
corded to  the  beneficiary  when  he  should  make  a 
successful  voyage  by  steam.  Livingston  was  now 
ambassador  of  the  United  States  to  the  Court  of 
France,  and  had  become  interested  in  the  young 
artist-engineer,  meeting  him,  presumably,  at  the  house 
of  his  friend  Barlow.  It  was  determined  to  try  the 
experiment  at  once,  and  on  the  Seine. 

The  giving  of  monopolies  in  the  form  here  alluded 
to  was,  in  those  days,  before  the  introduction  of  the 
modern  systems  of  patent-law,  a  very  common  method 
of  securing  to  inventors  their  full  reward.  John  Fitch 
had  been  given  a  monopoly  of  this  kind  by  the  United 
States  government  for  a  period  of  fourteen  years  from 
March  19,  1787;  which  monopoly  was  later  (1798) 
repealed  by  Congress  ;  this  repeal  being,  in  turn,  denied 
by  the  courts,  March  13,  1798,  and  subsequently  con- 
tinued to  June  i,  1819,  meantime  being  transferred  to 
Nicholas  J.  Roosevelt.  The  State  Act  in  favour  of 
Livingston  was  passed  to  take  effect  April  5,  1803, 
and  was  repealed  as  unconstitutional,  and  conflicting 
with  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  June  17, 
1817.  The  whole  system  went  out  of  use  at  the  latter 
date,  as  it  was  found  to  be  dangerous  and  trouble- 
some, and  on  the  whole  far  inferior  to  that  admirable 
patent- system  which  succeeded  it,  and  which  has  done 
so  much  to  promote  the  marvellous  prosperity  of 
the  country  since  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Fulton  went  to  Plombieres  in  the  spring  of  1802, 


104  ROBERT  FULTON. 

and  there  made  his  drawings  and  completed  his  plans 
for  the  construction  of  his  first  steamboat.  Many 
attempts  had  been  made,  as  we  have  seen,  and  many 
inventors  were  at  work  contemporaneously  with  him. 
Every  modern  device,  —  the  jet-system,  the  "  chaplet " 
of  buckets  on  an  endless  chain  or  rope,  the  paddle- 
wheel,  and  even  the  screw-propeller  —  had  been  al- 
ready proposed,  and  all  were  familiar  to  the  well-read 
man  of  science  of  the  day.  Indeed,  as  Mr.  Benjamin 
H.  Latrobe,  a  distinguished  engineer  of  the  time,  wrote 
in  a  paper  presented  May  20,  1803,  to  the  Philadel- 
phia Society,  "  A  sort  of  mania  began  to  prevail  "  for 
propelling  boats  by  means  of  steam-engines.  Fulton 
was  one  of  those  taking  this  mania  most  seriously. 
He  made  a  number  of  models  which  worked  success- 
fully, and  justified  the  proprietors  of  the  new  arrange- 
ment in  building  on  a  larger  scale.  A  model  of  the 
proposed  steamboat  was  made  during  the  year  1802, 
and  was  presented  to  the  committee  of  the  French 
legislature  with  the  note  of  which  a  copy  is  given 
below.  This  latter  document  was  discovered  in  the 
following  manner,  as  described  by  "  La  Nature  "  in 
1880:  — 

Jacques  de  Vaucanson,  the  French  mechanician, 
was  born  in  Grenoble,  Feb.  24,  1709,  and  died  in 
Paris,  Nov.  21,  1782.  He  studied  mechanics  and 
anatomy  for  several  years.  The  statue  of  the  Flute- 
Player  in  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries  first  sug- 
gested to  him  the  project  of  making  an  automaton 
player,  and  he  acquired  great  celebrity  by  works  of 
this  class.  Cardinal  Fleury  appointed  him  inspector 


THE  "CLERMONT."  105 

of  silk  manufactures ;  and  in  consequence  of  his 
improvements  in  machinery  he  was  attacked  by  the 
workmen  of  Lyons.  He  retaliated  by  constructing 
an  automaton  ass  weaving  flowered  silks.  He  be- 
queathed his  collection  to  the  queen,  who  gave  it 
to  the  Academic  des  Sciences.  It  was  afterward 
scattered,  in  consequence  of  a  contest  with  the  mer- 
cantile authorities  for  the  possession  of  the  manufac- 
turing machinery.  His  portfolio,  containing  drawings 
and  documents  of  great  historical  value,  is  now  in 
possession  of  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers, 
at  Paris.  One  of  the  most  valuable  things  in  the 
collection  is  Fulton's  design  for  his  first  steamboat, 
accompanied  by  an  autograph  letter :  — 

PARIS,  4  Pluviose,  Year  n  (1803). 

ROBERT  FULTON  TO  CITIZENS  MOLAR,  BANDELL, 
AND  MONTGOLFIER. 

FRIENDS  OF  THE  ARTS,  —  I  send  you  herewith 
drawings  sketched  from  a  machine  that  I  have  con- 
structed, and  with  which  I  purpose  soon  to  make 
experiments  in  causing  boats  to  move  on  rivers  by 
the  aid  of  fire-pumps  (pompes-a-feu) .  My  first  aim, 
in  occupying  myself  with  this  idea,  was  to  put  it  in 
practice  on  the  long  rivers  of  America,  where  there 
are  no  tow-paths,  and  where  these  would  scarcely  be 
practicable,  and  where,  consequently,  the  expenses  of 
navigation  by  steam  would  be  placed  in  comparison 
with  that  of  manual  labour,  and  not  with  that  of 
horse-power,  as  in  France. 

In  these  drawings  you  will  find  nothing  new,  since 

' 


io6  ROBERT  FULTON. 

they  are  only  [those  of]  water-wheels,  —  a  method 
which  has  been  often  tried,  and  always  abandoned 
because  it  was  believed  that  a  purchase  could  not  be 
thereby  obtained  in  the  water.  But  after  the  experi- 
ments that  I  have  made,  I  am  convinced  that  the 
fault  has  not  been  in  the  wheel,  but  in  ignorance  of 
proportions,  velocities,  powers,  and  probably  mechan- 
ical combinations.  .  .  .  Citizens,  when  my  experi- 
ments are  ready,  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  inviting 
you  to  witness  them ;  and  if  they  succeed,  I  reserve 
to  myself  the  privilege  of  either  making  a  present  of 
my  labours  to  the  Republic,  or  deriving  therefrom  the 
advantages  which  the  law  authorizes.  At  present,  I 
place  these  notes  in  your  hands,  so  that  if  a  like 
project  should  reach  you  before  my  experiments  are 
finished,  it  may  not  have  preference  over  my  own. 
Respectfully, 

ROBERT  FULTON. 

The  drawings  alluded  to  included  that  here  shown, 
which  has  been  reduced  from  the  original,  which  is 
still  safely  preserved  in  Paris.  As  will  be  seen  later, 
the  general  character  of  the  vessel  is  that  subsequently 
made  so  successful  in  America,  and  the  form  of  the 
engine  is  precisely  that  of  the  later  "  Clermont." 

Fulton  seems  to  have  been  considered,  even  at  this 
early  day,  an  authority  on  the  subject  of  steam- navi- 
gation. Admiral  Preble,  in  his  History  of  Steam 
Navigation,  (p.  35)  quotes  the  following  letter  to  a 
friend,  written  after  his  work  on  his  own  scheme 
for  that  season  was  over :  — 


THE  "CLERMONT." 


107 


PARIS,  the  2oth  of  Sept.,  1802. 
To  MR.  FULNER  SKIPWITH. 

SIR, —  The  expense  of  a  patent  in  France  is  300 
livres  for  three  years,  800  ditto  for  ten  years,  and 
1,500  ditto  for  fifteen  years.  There  can  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  a  patent  for  the  mode  of  propelling 
a  boat  which  you  have  shown  me ;  but  if  the  author 
of  the  model  wishes  to  be  assured  of  the  merits  of  his 


Fig.  7.  —  Fulton's  First  Steamboat. 

invention  before  he  goes  to  the  expense  of  a  patent, 
I  advise  him  to  make  the  model  of  a  boat  in  which 
he  can  place  a  clock-spring,  which  will  give  about 
eight  revolutions.  He  can  then  combine  the  move- 
ments so  as  to  try  oars,  paddles,  and  the  leaves  which 
he  proposes.  If  he  finds  that  the  leaves  drive  the 
boat  a  greater  distance  in  the  same  time  than  either 
oars  or  paddles,  they  consequently  are  a  better  ap- 
plication of  power.  About  eight  years  ago,  the  Earl 
of  Stanhope  tried  an  experiment  on  similar  leaves, 
wheels,  oars,  and  paddles,  and  flyers  similar  to  those 


1 08  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

of  a  smoke- jack,  and  found  oars  to  be  the  best.  The 
velocity  with  which  a  boat  moves  is  in  proportion  as 
the  sum  of  the  surfaces  of  the  oars,  paddles,  leaves, 
or  other  machine  is  to  the  bow  of  the  boat  presented 
to  the  water,  and  in  proportion  to  the  power  with 
which  such  machinery  is  put  in  motion.  Hence,  if 
the  use  of  the  surfaces  of  the  oars  is  equal  to  the  sum 
of  the  surfaces  of  the  leaves,  and  they  pass  through 
similar  curves  in  the  same  time,  the  effect  must  be 
the  same.  But  oars  have  their  advantage ;  they 
return  through  air  to  make  a  second  stroke,  and 
hence  create  very  little  resistance  ;  whereas  the  leaves 
return  through  water,  and  add  considerably  to  the 
resistance,  which  resistance  is  increased  as  the  velocity 
of  the  boat  is  augmented.  No  kind  of  machinery 
can  create  power.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  apply 
the  manual  or  other  power  to  the  best  advantage.  If 
the  author  of  the  model  is  fond  of  mechanics,  he  will 
be  much  amused,  and  not  lose  his  time,  by  trying 
the  experiments  in  the  manner  I  propose ;  and  this 
perhaps  is  the  most  prudent  measure,  before  a  patent 
is  taken.  I  am,  sir,  with  much  respect, 

Yours,  ROBERT  FULTON. 

At  this  time  the  inventors  had  taken  up  the  prob- 
lem, as  we  have  seen,  and  several  had  been,  during 
the  preceding  twenty  years,  working  with  more  or  less 
success  to  secure  what  every  statesman  of  the  period 
saw  would  be  ultimately  a  step  toward  the  attain- 
ment of  that  great  aim  of  Fulton,  the  commercial  free- 
dom of  the  seas.  As  early  as  1 794,  Lord  Stanhope 


THE  "  CLERMONT."  109 

addressed  a  letter  to  Wilberforce  on  the  question  of 
peace  or  war,  likely,  he  thought  to  be  brought  under 
discussion  on  the  meeting  of  Parliament.  In  this 
letter  he  speculates  on  the  possible  resources  of 
France,  and  hints  that  England  is  not  invulnerable. 
He  says  :  — 

"  This  country  [Great  Britain]  is  vulnerable  in  so 
many  ways,  the  picture  is  horrid.  By  my  letter  I  will 
say  nothing  on  that  subject.  One  instance,  I  will, 
however,  state,  because  it  is  information  you  cannot,  as 
yet,  receive  from  any  other  quarter ;  though  in  two  or 
three  months  from  the  date  of  this  letter  the  fact  will 
be  fully  established,  and  you  may  then  hear  it  from 
others.  The  thing  I  allude  to  is  of  peculiar  impor- 
tance. The  fact  is  this  :  I  know  (and  in  a  few  weeks 
shall  prove)  that  ships  of  any  size,  and  for  certain 
reasons  the  larger  the  better,  may  be  navigated  in  any 
narrow  or  other  sea,  without  sails  (though  occasion- 
ally with),  but  so  as  to  go  without  wind,  and  even 
directly  against  both  wind  and  waves.  The  conse- 
quences I  draw  are  as  follows :  First,  that  all  the 
principal  reasons  against  the  French  having  the  ports 
of  Ostend,  etc.,  cease,  inasmuch  as  a  French  fleet 
composed  of  ships  of  the  above-mentioned  descrip- 
tion, would  come  out  at  all  times  from  Cherbourg, 
Dunkirk,  etc.,  as  well  as  from  Ostend,  etc.,  and  appear 
in  the  same  seas.  The  water,  even  at  Dunkirk,  will 
be  amply  deep  enough  for  the  purposes  of  having  them 
there.  The  French  having  Ostend,  ought  not,  there- 
fore, under  this  new  revolution  in  naval  affairs,  —  for  it 
would  be  a  complete  revolution,  —  to  be  a  bar  to  peace. 


1 1  o  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

Under  the  old  nautical  system,  naval  men  might  have 
reasoned  differently  on  that  subject.  But  the  most 
important  consequence  which  I  draw  from  this  stu- 
pendous fact  mentioned  at  the  top  of  this  page  is 
this ;  namely,  that  //  will  shortly  render  all  the  exist- 
ing navies  of  the  world  (I  mean  military  navies)  no 
better  than  lumber.  For  what  can  ships  do  that  are 
dependent  upon  wind  and  weather  against  fleets 
wholly  independent  of  either?  Therefore  the  boasted 
superiority  of  the  English  navy  is  no  more  !  We 
must  have  a  new  one.  The  French  and  other  na- 
tions will,  for  the  same  reasons,  have  their  new 
ones."  1 

The  apprehension  of  Stanhope  was  the  hope  of  Ful- 
ton ;  but  neither  the  hope  nor  the  apprehension  has 
as  yet  been  verified.  The  introduction  of  steam- 
navigation  became  a  success ;  but  that  success  came 
so  slowly  as  to  permit  all  nations  to  avail  themselves 
of  it,  and  none  sooner  or  more  completely  than  the 
two  most  active  in  the  production  of  this  revolution, 
-  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  The  British 
navy  became  a  steam-navy,  and  the  other  nations  of 
the  world  followed  her  lead ;  so  that  the  strife  of  the 
century,  at  sea,  has  been  a?  struggle  between,  and  for, 
steam-fleets.  In'  this  direction,  the  introduction  of 
steam  has  resulted  in  the  increased  expenditure  of 
money  on  fleets  in  such  enormous  amounts  as  to  tax 
the  people  to  the  very  limit  of  their  endurance  ;  while 
the  relative  order  in  naval  power  of  the  greater 
nations  has  been  comparatively  little  altered. 

1  Preble,  p.  28. 


THE  "CLERMONT? 


Ill 


With  the  encouragement  of  Chancellor  Livingston, 
who  urged  upon  Fulton  the  importance  of  the  intro- 
duction of  steam-navigation  into  their  native  country, 
the  latter  continued  his  experimental  work.  Their 
boat  was  finished  and  set  afloat  on  the  Seine  in  1803, 
in  the  early  spring.  Its  proportions  had  been  deter- 


Fig.  8.  —  Fulton's  Experiments. 


mined  by  careful  computation  from  the  results  of  no 
less  careful  experiment  on  the  resistance  of  fluids  and 
the  power  required  for  propelling  vessels ;  and  its 
speed  was,  therefore,  more  nearly  in  accord  with  the 
expectations  and  promises  of  the  inventor  than  was 
the  usual  experience  in  those  days. 

The   Author   has   examined  a   collection   of  Ful- 
ton's sketches  of  these  plans,  including  chaplet,  side- 


112 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


wheel  and  stern-wheel  boats,  driven  by  various  forms 
of  steam-engine,  some  working  direct,  and  some 
geared  to  the  paddle-wheel  shaft.  Figure  8  is  en- 
graved from  these  sheets.  It  represents  the  method 
adopted  by  Fulton  to  determine  the  resistance  of 
various  forms  and  proportions  of  bodies  towed  through 
water.  Figure  9  is  "A  Table  of  the  resistance  of 


WAUTJCAL  MILES  KiR  HOUR. 


{0  KM  MM  034  SB*  Ml 


0M  SiK  HUM  7*/fi  SJ6  W4 13J9  139 


MDnzBI 


34129  fOS  M2  2BM  HI 


il  OS  «S6  «^<  26.-W  HSl  IdM  SJDl 
MS  fZ77  Xfl  2CJ3  (IN  1132  i96 


(30MUIUI  El! 


3. 25 
JSdi.05 


5.88 


0/jrecrjeN  or  THE  MOTION  orntE  BODIES,  c  en. 


22? 


Hii'iii!iiimiiiii!iii!ipiii:3giiiliiiiiiiiiiill 


-®7£frv 


Fig.  9.  —  Fulton's  Table  of  Resistances. 

bodies  moved  through  water,  taken  from  experiments 
made  in  England  by  a  society  for  improving  Naval 
architecture,  between  the  years  1793  and  1798." 
This  is  from  a  certified  copy  of'  "The  Original 
Drawing  on  file  in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the 
New  York  District,  making  a  part  of  the  Demonstra- 
tion of  the  patent  granted  to  Robert  Fulton,  Esqr., 
on  the  nth  day  of  February,  1809.  Dated  this 
3rd  March,  1814." 

Guided  by  these  experiments  and  calculations, 
therefore,  Fulton  directed  the  construction  of  his 
vessel.  The  hull  was  sixty-six  feet  long,  of  eight  feet 


THE  "  CLERMONT."  113 

beam,  and  of  light  draught.  But  unfortunately  the  hull 
was  too  weak  for  its  machinery,  and  it  broke  in  two 
and  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the  Seine.  Fulton  at  once 
set  about  repairing  damages.  He  was  compelled  to 
direct  the  rebuilding  of  the  hull,  but  the  machinery 
was  but  slightly  injured.  In  June,  1803,  the  recon- 
struction was  complete,  and  the  vessel  was  set  afloat 
in  July. 

August  9, 1803,  this  boat  was  cast  loose  in  presence 
of  an  immense  concourse  of  spectators,  including  a 
committee  of  the  National  Academy,  consisting  of 
Bougainville,  Bossuet,  Carnot,  and  Pe"rier.  The  boat 
moved  but  slowly,  making  only  between  three  and  four 
miles  an  hour  against  the  current,  the  speed  through 
the  water  being  about  4^  miles;  but  this  was,  all 
things  considered,  a  great  success. 

The  experiment  attracted  little  attention,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  its  success  had  been  witnessed 
by  the  committee  of  the  Academy  and  by  officers  on 
Napoleon's  staff.  The  boat  remained  a  long  time  on 
the  Seine,  near  the  palace.  The  water-tube  boiler 
of  this  vessel  (Figure  10)  is  still  preserved  at  the 
Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers  at  Paris,  where  it 
is  known  as  Barlow's  boiler.  Barlow  patented  it  in 
France  as  early  as  1793,  as  a  steamboat-boiler,  and 
states  that  the  object  of  his  construction  was  to  obtain 
the  greatest  possible  extent  of  heating- surface. 

Fulton  endeavoured  to  secure  the  pecuniary  aid 
and  the  countenance  of  the  First  Consul,  but  in 
vain. 

Livingston  wrote  home,  describing  the  trial  and  its 
8 


114 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


results,  and  procured  the  passage  of  an  Act  by  the 
legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  extending,  nomi- 
nally to  Fulton,  a  monopoly  granted  the  former  in 
1798  for  the  term  of  twenty  years  from  April  5,  1803, 
—  the  date  of  the  new  law,  —  and  extending  the  time 
allowed  for  proving  the  practicability  of  driving  a  boat 
four  miles  an  hour  by  steam  to  two  years  from  the 
same  date.  A  later  act  further  extended  the  time  to 
April,  1807. 


Fig.  TO.  —  Barlow's  Water-Tube  Boiler,  1793. 

In  May,  1804,  Fulton  went  to  England,  giving  up 
all  hope  of  success  in  France  with  either  his  steam- 
boats or  his  torpedoes,  and  the  chapter  of  his  work 
in  Europe  practically  ends  here.  He  had  already 
written  to  Boulton  &  Watt,  ordering  an  engine  to  be 
built  from  plans  which  he  furnished  them ;  but  he 
had  not  informed  them  of  the  purpose  to  which  it 
was  to  be  applied.  This  engine l  was  to  have  a  steam- 

1  Thurston's  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  256. 


THE  "CLERMONT."  115 

cylinder  two  feet  in  diameter  and  of  four  feet  stroke. 
Its  form  and  proportions  were  substantially  those  of 
the  boat-engine  of  1803. 

Meantime,-  the  opening  of  the  century  had  been 
distinguished  by  the  beginning  of  work  in  the  same 
direction  by  the  most  active  and  energetic  among  Ful- 
ton's later  rivals.  This  was  Col.  John  Stevens  of  Ho- 
boken,  who,  assisted  by  his  son,  Robert  L.  Stevens, 
was  earnestly  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  seize  the 
prize  now  so  evidently  almost  within  the  grasp.  This 
younger  Stevens  was  he  of  whom  the  great  naval 
architect  and  engineer,  John  Scott  Russell,  afterward 
remarked  :  "  He  is  probably  the  man  to  whom,  of  all 
others,  America  owes  the  greatest  share  of  its  present 
highly  improved  steam-navigation."  l  The  father  and 
son  worked  together  for  years  after  Fulton  had  demon- 
strated the  possibility  of  reaching  the  desired  end,  in 
the  improvement  of  the  hulls  and  machinery  of  the 
river  steamboat,  until  in  their  hands,  and  especially 
in  those  of  the  son,  the  now  familiar  system  of  con- 
struction in  all  its  essentials  was  developed.  The 
elder  Stevens,  as  early  as  1789,  evidently  had  seen 
what  was  in  prospect,  and  had  petitioned  the  legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  New  York  for  a  grant  similar  to 
that  actually  accorded  Livingston,  later ;  and  he  had 
certainly,  at  that  time,  formed  plans  for  the  applica- 
tion of  steam-power  to  navigation.  The  records 
show  that  he  was  at  work  on  construction  as  early, 
at  least,  as  1791.  The  following  is  a  brief  state- 

1  Steam  and  Steam-Navigation,  J.  S.  Russell,  Edinburgh, 
1841. 


Il6  ROBERT  FULTON. 

ment  of  his  work,  mainly  as  elsewhere  given  by  the 
Author.1 

In  1804  Stevens  completed  a  steamboat  sixty-eight 
feet  long  and  of  fourteen  feet  beam.  Its  boiler 
(Figure  n)  was  of  the  water- tubular  variety.  It  con- 


Fig,  ii.  —  Section  of  Steam -Boiler,  1804. 

tained  one  hundred  tubes,  two  inches  in  diameter  and 
eighteen  inches  long,  fastened  at  one  end  to  a  central 
water-leg  and  steam-drum.  The  flames  from  the  fur- 
nace passed  among  the  tubes,  the  water  being  inside. 


Fig.  12.  —  Engine,  Boiler,  and  Screw-Propellers,  used  by  Stevens,  1804. 

The  engine  (Figure  12)  was  direct-acting  high-pressure 

condensing,  having  a  jo-inch  cylinder,  two  feet  stroke 

1  History  of  the  Growth  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  264. 


THE  «CLERMONT:>  117 

of  piston,  and  driving  a  well- shaped  screw,  with  four 
blades. 

This  machinery,  —  the  high-pressure  condensing 
engine,  with  rotating  valves,  and  twin  screw-pro- 
pellers,—  as  rebuilt  in  1805,  is  still  preserved.  The 
hub  and  blade  of  a  single  screw,  also  used  with  the 
same  machinery  in  1804,  is  likewise  extant. 

Stevens's  eldest  son,  John  Cox  Stevens,  was  in 
Great  Britain  in  the  year  1805,  and  while  there  pa- 
tented a  modification  of  this  sectional  boiler.  In  his 


Fig.  13.  —  Stevens's  Screw-Steamer,  1804. 

specification  he  says  that  he  describes  this  invention 
as  it  was  made  known  to  him  by  his  father,  and  adds : 
"  From  a  series  of  experiments  made  in  France,  in 
1790,  by  M.  Belamour,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  it  has  been  found  that, 
within  a  certain  range,  the  elasticity  of  steam  is  nearly 
doubled  by  every  addition  of  temperature  equal  to 
30°  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer.  These  experi- 


1 1 8  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

ments  were  carried  no  higher  than  280°,  at  which 
temperature  the  elasticity  of  steam  was  found  equal  to 
about  four  times  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  By 
experiments  which  have  lately  been  made  by  myself, 
the  elasticity  of  steam  at  the  temperature  of  boiling 
oil,  which  has  been  estimated  at  about  600°,  was  found 
to  equal  forty  times  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere. 

"  To  the  discovery  of  this  principle  or  law,  which 
obtains  when  water  assumes  a  state  of  vapour,  I  cer- 
tainly can  lay  no  claim ;  but  to  the  application  of  it, 
upon  certain  principles,  to  the  improvement  of  the 
steam-engine,  I  do  claim  exclusive  right. 

"  It  is  obvious  that,  to  derive  advantage  from  an 
application  of  this  principle,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  the  vessel  or  vessels  for  generating  steam  should 
have  strength  sufficient  to  withstand  the  great  pressure 
from  an  increase  of  elasticity  in  the  steam ;  but  this 
pressure  is  increased  or  diminished  in  proportion  to 
the  capacity  of  the  containing  vesseL  The  principle, 
then,  of  this  invention  consists  in  forming  a  boiler  by 
means  of  a  system,  or  combination,  of  a  number  of 
small  vessels,  instead  of  using,  as  in  the  usual  mode, 
one  large  one,  the  relative  strength  of  the  materials 
of  which  these  vessels  are  composed  increasing  in 
proportion  to  the  diminution  of  capacity.  It  will 
readily  occur  that  there  are  an  infinite  variety  of 
possible  modes  of  effecting  such  combinations ;  but, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  there  are  certain  limits 
beyond  which  it  becomes  impracticable  to  carry  on 
improvement.  In  the  boiler  I  am  about  to  describe, 
1  apprehend  that  the  improvement  is  carried  to  the 


THE  "CLERMONT."  119 

utmost  extent  of  which  the  principle  is  capable. 
Suppose  a  plate  of  brass  of  one  foot  square,  in  which 
a  number  of  holes  are  perforated,  into  each  of  which 
holes  is  fixed  one  end  of  a  copper  tube,  of  about  an 
inch  in  diameter  and  two  feet  long,  and  the  other 
ends  of  these  tubes  inserted  in  like  manner  into  a 
similar  piece  of  brass;  the  tubes,  to  insure  their 
tightness,  to  be  cast  in  the  plates  ;  these  plates  are  to 
be  inclosed  at  each  end  of  the  pipes  by  a  strong  cap 
of  cast-iron  or  brass,  so  as  to  leave  a  space  of  an  inch 
or  two  between  the  plates  or  ends  of  the  pipes  and 
the  cast-iron  cap  at  each  end ;  the  caps  at  each  end 
are  to  be  fastened  by  screw-bolts  passing  through 
them  into  the  plates ;  the  necessary  supply  of  water 
is  to  be  injected  by  means  of  a  forcing-pump  into  the 
cap  at  one  end,  and  through  a  tube  inserted  into  the 
cap  at  the  other  end  the  steam  is  to  be  conveyed  to 
the  cylinder  of  the  steam-engine ;  the  whole  is  then 
to  be  encircled  in  brick-work  or  masonry  in  the  usual 
manner,  placed  either  horizontally  or  perpendicularly, 
at  option. 

"  I  conceive  that  the  boiler  above  described  em- 
braces the  most  eligible  mode  of  applying  the  prin- 
ciple before  mentioned,  and  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
give  descriptions  of  the  variations  in  form  and  con- 
struction that  may  be  adopted,  especially  as  these 
forms  may  be  diversified  in  many  different  modes." 

Boilers  of  the  character  of  those  described  in  this 
specification  were  used  on  a  locomotive  built  by  John 
Stevens,  in  1824-1825. 

The  use  of  a  high-pressure  sectional  boiler  seventy 


120  ROBERT  FULTON. 

years  ago  is  more  remarkable  than  the  adoption  of 
the  screw-propeller  thirty  years  before  the  screw  came 
into  general  use. 

Colonel  Stevens  designed  a  form  of  iron- clad  in 
the  year  1812,  since  reproduced  by  the  late  John 
Elder,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland.  It  consisted  of  a 
saucer-shaped  hull,  plated  with  iron  of  ample  thick- 
ness to  resist  the  shot  fired  from  the  heaviest  ordnance 
then  known.  This  vessel  was  to  be  secured  to  a 
swivel,  and  anchored  in  the  channel  to  be  defended. 


Fig.  14.  —  Stevens's  Twin-Screw  Steamer,  1805. 

A  set  of  screw-propellers,  driven  by  steam-engines, 
and  situated  beneath  the  vessel,  were  arranged  to 
permit  the  vessel  to  be  rapidly  revolved  about  its 
centre,  working  thus  on  the  principle  of  the  "  turret  " 
of  Timby  and  Ericsson.  As  each  gun  came  into  line 
it  was  discharged,  and  then  reloaded  before  coming 
around  again.  This,  the  first  iron-clad  ever  designed, 
has  recently  been  again  brought  out  and  introduced 
into  the  Russian  navy,  and  called  the  "  Popoffska," 

Stevens   next   built   a   boat  which   he  named  the 
"  Phoenix,"  and  made  the  first  trial  in  1807,  just  too 


THE  "  CLERMONT."  12 1 

late  to  anticipate  Fulton.  This  boat  was  driven  by 
paddle-wheels. 

Stevens,  being  shut  out  of  the  rivers  of  the  State  of 
New  York  by  the  monopoly  held  by  Fulton  and  Liv- 
ingston, ran  the  "Phoenix"  for  a  time  between  New 
York  Bay  and  New  Brunswick,  and  on  the  Delaware. 

At  that  time  no  canal  existed,  and  in  June,  1808, 
Robert  L.  Stevens  started  to  make  the  passage  by  sea. 
Although  meeting  a  gale  of  wind,  he  arrived  at  Phila- 
delphia safely,  having  been  the  first  to  make  a  sea 
voyage  by  steam-power. 

From  this  time  forward  the  Stevenses  continued  to 
construct  steam-vessels,  and,  later,  built  the  most 
successful  steamboats  on  the  Hudson  River. 

Before  recurring  to  the  work  of  Fulton,  a  few  more 
paragraphs  may  be  devoted  to  Stevens.1 

Col.  John  Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  was  the  greatest 
professional  engineer  and  naval  architect  living  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century.  Without  having 
made  any  improvement  in  the  steam-engine,  like  that 
which  gave  Watt  his  fame ;  without  being  the  first  to 
propose  navigation  by  steam,  or  steam-transportation 
on  land,  he  exhibited  a  better  knowledge  of  engineer- 
ing than  any  man  of  his  time,  and  entertained  and 
urged  more  advanced  opinions,  and  more  statesman- 
like views,  in  relation  to  the  economical  importance 
of  the  improvement  of  the  steam-engine,  both  on  land 
and  water,  than  seem  to  have  been  attributable  to  any 
other  leading  engineer  of  that  time,  not  excepting 
Robert  Fulton. 

1  See  a  paper  by  the  Author,  "  The  Messrs.  Stevens,  as 
Engineers,"  etc. ;  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  Oct.,  1874. 


1 2  2  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

Dr.  Charles  King,  then  the  distinguished  President 
of  the  Columbia  College,  thus  refers  to  the  work  of 
this  great  man.1 

"  Mr.  Stevens's  attention  was  first  turned,  or  rather 
the  bent  of  his  genius  was  developed  and  directed 
toward  mechanics  and  mechanical  philosophy,  by  the 
accident  of  seeing  in  1787  the  early  and,  as  now  may 
be  said,  imperfect  steamboat  of  John  Fitch  navigating 
the  Delaware  River.  He  was  driving  in  his  phaeton 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  when  the  mysterious  craft, 
without  sails  or  oars,  passed  by.  Mr.  Stevens's  inter- 
est was  excited ;  he  followed  the  boat  to  its  landing, 
familiarized  himself  with  the  design  and  the  details 
of  this  new  and  curious  combination,  and  from  that 
hour  became  a  thoroughly  excited  and  unwearied  ex- 
perimenter in  the  application  of  steam  to  locomotion 
on  the  water,  and  subsequently  on  the  land. 

"  Having  been  brought  by  close  family  connection 
into  intimacy  with  Robert  R.  Livingston  (the  Chan- 
cellor of  this  State,  who  married  the  sister  of  Colonel 
Stevens),  he  induced  Mr.  L.  to  join  him  in  these 
investigations ;  and  they  were  persevered  in  at  great 
cost,  and  with  little  immediate  success,  till  Chancellor 
Livingston,  in  1801-1802,  was  sent  as  minister  to 
France. 

"  So  much,  however,  was  the  Chancellor  encour- 
aged by  the  experiments  then  made,  that  as  early  as 
1798  he  obtained  from  the  legislature  of  New  York 
an  exclusive  grant  for  the  use  of  steam  on  the  waters 
of  New  York.  This,  however,  became  forfeit  by 

1  Lecture  on  the  Progress  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1843. 


THE  "CLERMONT."  123 

the  failure  to  avail  within  the  limited  time    of  its 
privileges. 

"  But  previously  to  the  Act  of  '98,  the  legislature 
of  New  York  had,  as  early  as  1787,  granted  to  James 
Rumsey  and  to  John  Fitch  the  exclusive  right  to 
navigate  the  waters  of  the  State  with  steam-propelled 
vessels;  and  on  the  9th  of  January,  1789,  John  Ste- 
vens petitioned  the  legislature  for  a  like  grant,  — 
nothing  having  resulted  from  the  preceding  ones. 
Mr.  Stevens  in  his  petition  says  that  '  to  the  best  of 
his  knowledge  and  belief  his  scheme  is  altogether 
new,  and  does  not  interfere  with  the  inventions  of 
either  of  the  other  gentlemen  who  have  applied  to 
your  honourable  body  for  an  exclusive  right  of  navi- 
gating by  means  of  steam.'  The  petitioner  adds  that 
he  '  had  made  an  exact  draught  of  the  different  parts 
of  his  machine,  which,  with  an  explanation  thereof, 
he  is  ready  to  exhibit.'  The  prayer  of  the  petition 
was  unsuccessful ;  but  these  draughts  should  be  among 
the  papers  of  the  late  Colonel  Stevens,  and  at  this  day 
would  be  curious. 

"  Mr.  Stevens,  meanwhile,  never  renounced  his  ex- 
periments, nor  despaired  of  success;  and  in  1804  he 
actually  constructed  a  propeller  (a  small  open  boat, 
worked  by  steam),  with  such  decided  success  that 
he  was  encouraged  to  go  on  and  build  the  '  Phcenix ' 
steamboat,  on  his  own  plan  and  model,  and  had  her 
ready  almost  contemporaneously  with,  but  a  little 
after,  the  first  steamboat  of  Fulton,  the  'Clermont.' 
The  success  of  the  '  Clermont '  entitled  Mr.  Fulton 
and  Chancellor  Livingston,  who  was  co-operating  with 


ROBERT  FULTON. 

Fulton,  to  the  benefit  of  the  law,  which  had  been  re- 
vived by  the  State  of  New  York,  granted  a  monopoly 
of  the  waters  of  the  State,  and  thus  Mr.  Stevens's 
steamboat  was  excluded  from  those  waters.  On  the 
Delaware,  however,  and  on  the  Connecticut,  he  placed 
boats ;  and  his  eminent  son,  Robert  L.  Stevens,  hav- 
ing embraced  his  father's  views,  was  now  at  work  with 
him  to  improve  the  known,  and  invent  new  resources 
Jor  accelerated  steam  conveyance." 

lile  Fulton  was  still  abroad,  John  Fitch  and 
Oliver  Evans  were  pursuing  a  similar  course  of  experi- 
ment, as  were  his  contemporaries  on  the  other  side 
the  Atlantic,  and  with  more  success.  Fitch  had  made 
a  number  of  fairly  successful  ventures,  and  had  shown 
beyond  question  that  the  project  of  applying  steam 
to  ship-propulsion  was  a  promising  one ;  and  he  had 
only  failed  through  lack  of  financial  backing,  and  ina- 
bility to  appreciate  the  amount  of  power  that  must  be 
employed  to  give  his  boats  any  considerable  speed. 
Evans  had  made  his  "  Oruktor  Amphibolis,"  —  a  flat- 
bottomed  vessel  which  he  built  at  his  works  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  impelled  by  its  own  engines,  on  wheels, 
to  the  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  and  then  afloat,  down 
the  stream  to  its  berth,  by  paddle-wheels  driven  by 
the  same  engines.  Other  inventors  were  working  on 
both  sides  the  ocean  with  apparently  good  reason  to 
hope  for  success,  and  the  times  evidently  were  ripe 
for  the  man  who  should  best  combine  all  the  require- 
ments in  a  single  experiment.  The  man  to  do  this 
was  Fulton. 

He  had  made  his  own  preliminary  trials  on  the 


THE   "CLERMONT."  125 

Seine,  and  had  there  learned  how  to  proceed  to  make 
a  better  steamer  later ;  he  had  undoubtedly  kept  him- 
self informed  of  what  was  being  done  by  his  rivals  in 
Great  Britain,  as  in  France  and  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  the  imperfect  facilities  for  communication  of 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  permitted ; 
he  had  the  natural  talent  of  the  inventor,  the  skill  and 
training  of  the  engineer,  and  was  now  backed  by  men 
of  capital  and  sagacity,  who  had  also  that  essential  of 
final  success,  political  power,  and  influence. 

Fulton's  experiments  on  the  Seine  so  far  encour- 
aged him  that,  with  the  approval  of  Livingston,  he 
immediately  wrote  to  the  firm  of  Boulton  &  Watt,  in 
England,  the  builders  of  the  engines  of  James  Watt, 
then  the  junior  member  of  the  firm,  and  ordered 
an  engine  of  which  he  gave  them  the  dimensions  and 
design,  but  which  he  did  not  inform  them  was  to  be 
used  in  steam-navigation.  This  engine  was  to  be  at 
once  built  and  shipped  to  the  United  States,  whither 
Fulton  had  decided  to  at  once  return.  He  himself 
went  to  England  before  returning  to  the  United  States, 
and,  it  is  presumed,  there  saw  the  builders  of  his 
engine,  and  instructed  them  as  to  the  details  of  its 
construction  for  adaptation  to  his  purposes.  It  was 
very  slowly  constructed,  however;  and  it  was  not 
until  about  the  time  of  his  own  arrival  at  New  York 
that  it  was  received  and  made  ready  for  its  work. 
The  boat  was  finally  built  and  fitted  with  these  en- 
gines, and  at  the  expense  of  Fulton  himself,  who 
could  find  no  one  at  the  time  ready  to  assume  a  por- 
tion of  the,  to  him,  somewhat  costly  outfit.  Living- 


126  ROBERT  FULTON. 

ston  seems  to  have  remained  behind,  and  to  have 
left  the  whole  burden  to  be  borne  by  Fulton. 

Immediately  on  his  arrival,  in  the  winter  of  1806-7, 
Fulton  started  on  his  boat,  selecting  Charles  Brown 
as  the  builder,  a  well-known  ship-builder  of  that  time, 
and  the  builder  of  many  of  Fulton's  later  steam-vessels. 
The  hull  of  this  steamer,  which  was  the  first  to  estab- 
lish a  regular  route  and  regular  transportation  of  pas- 
sengers and  merchandise  in  America,  —  Fulton's  first 
boat  in  his  native  country,  —  was  133  feet  long,  1 8  f eet 
beam,  and  7  feet  depth  of  hold.  The  engine  was  of 
24  inches  diameter  of  cylinder,  4  feet  stroke  of  piston ; 
and  its  boiler  was  20  feet  long,  7  feet  high,  and  8  feet 
wide.  The  tonnage  was  computed  at  160.  After  its 
first  season,  its  operation  having  satisfied  all  concerned 
of  the  promise  of  the  venture,  its  hull  was  lengthened 
to  140  feet,  and  widened  to  i6j-  feet,  thus  being  com- 
pletely rebuilt;  while  its  engines  were  altered  in  a 
number  of  details,  Fulton  furnishing  the  drawings 
for  the  alterations.  Two  more  boats,  the  "  Raritan  " 
and  the  "  Car  of  Neptune "  were  added  to  form 
the  fleet  of  1807,  and  steam-navigation  was  at  last 
fairly  begun  in  America,  some  years  in  advance  of  its 
establishment  in  Europe.  The  Legislature  were  so 
much  impressed  with  this  result  that  they  promptly 
extended  the  monopoly  previously  given  Fulton  and 
Livingston,  adding  five  years  for  every  boat  to  be 
built  and  set  in  operation,  up  to  a  maximum  not  to 
exceed  a  total  of  thirty  years. 

The  "Clermont,"  as  Fulton  called  this  first  boat, 
was  begun  in  the  winter  of  1806-7,  and  launched  in 


THE 

the  spring ;  the  machinery  was  at  once  put  on  board, 
and  in  August,  1807,  the  craft  was  ready  for  the  trial- 
trip.  The  boat  was  promptly  started  on  her  proposed 
trip  to  Albany  and  made  the  run  with  perfect  success. 
Fulton's  own  account  is  as  follows  :  — 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  "AMERICAN  CITIZEN." 

SIR,  —  I  arrived  this  afternoon  at  four  o'clock,  in 
the  steamboat  from  Albany.  As  the  success  of  my 
experiment  gives  me  great  hopes  that  such  boats  may 
be  rendered  of  great  importance  to  my  country,  to 
prevent  erroneous  opinions  and  give  some  satisfac- 
tion to  my  friends  of  useful  improvements,  you  will 
have  the  goodness  to  publish  the  following  statement 
of  facts  :  — 

I  left  New  York  on  Monday  at  one  o'clock,  and 
arrived  at  Clermont,  the  seat  of  Chancellor  Living- 
ston, at  one  o'clock  on  Tuesday  :  time,  twenty-four 
hours ;  distance,  one  hundred  and  ten  miles.  On 
Wednesday  I  departed  from  the  Chancellor's  at  nine 
in  the  morning,  and  arrived  at  Albany  at  five  in  the 
afternoon :  distance,  forty  miles ;  time,  eight  hours. 
The  sum  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  thirty-two 
hours,  —  equal  to  near  five  miles  an  hour. 

On  Thursday,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  left 
Albany,  and  arrived  at  the  Chancellor's  at  six  in  the 
evening.  I  started  from  thence  at  seven,  and  arrived 
at  New  York  at  four  in  the  afternoon :  time,  thirty 
hours ;  space  run  through,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  equal  to  five  miles  an  hour.  Throughout  my 
whole  way,  both  going  and  returning,  the  wind  was 
ahead.  No  advantage  could  be  derived  from  my 


128  ROBERT  FULTON. 

sails.     The  whole  has  therefore  been  performed  by 
the  power  of  the  steam-engine. 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  FULTON. 

Fulton  gives  the  following  account  of  the  same  voy- 
age in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Barlow  :  — 

"My  steamboat  voyage  to  Albany  and  back  has 
turned  out  rather  more  favourably  than  I  had  calcu- 
lated. The  distance  from  New  York  to  Albany  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles.  I  ran  it  up  in  thirty-two 
hours,  and  down  in  thirty.  I  had  a  light  breeze 
against  me  the  whole  way,  both  going  and  coming, 
and  the  voyage  has  been  performed  wholly  by  the 
power  of  the  steam-engine.  I  overtook  many  sloops 
and  schooners  beating  to  windward,  and  parted  with 
them  as  if  they  had  been  at  anchor. 

"  The  power  of  propelling  boats  by  steam  is  now 
fully  proved.  The  morning  I  left  New  York,  there 
were  not  perhaps  thirty  persons  in  the  city  who  be- 
lieved that  the  boat  would  ever  move  one  mile  an 
hour,  or  be  of  the  least  utility;  and  while  we  were 
putting  off  from  the  wharf,  which  was  crowded  with 
spectators,  I  heard  a  number  of  sarcastic  remarks. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  ignorant  men  compliment 
what  they  call  philosophers  and  projectors. 

"  Having  employed  much  time,  money,  and  zeal  in 
accomplishing  this  work,  it  gives  me,  as  it  will  you, 
great  pleasure  to  see  it  answer  my  expectations.  It 
will  give  a  cheap  and  quick  conveyance  to  the  mer- 
chandise on  the  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  other  great 
rivers,  which  are  now  laying  open  their  treasures  to 


THE   "CLERMONT."  129 

the  enterprise  of  our  countrymen ;  and,  although  the 
prospect  of  personal  emolument  has  been  some  in- 
ducement to  me,  yet  I  feel  infinitely  more  pleasure  in 
reflecting  on  the  immense  advantage  my  country  will 
derive  from  the  invention,"  l  etc. 

Professor  Renwick,  describing  the  "  Clermont "  of 
1807  as  she  appeared  on  her  first  trip,  says  :  "  She  was 
very  unlike  any  of  her  successors,  and  very  dissimilar 
from  the  shape  in  which  she  appeared  a  few  months 
afterward.  With  a  model  resembling  a  Long  Island 
skiff,  she  was  decked  for  a  short  distance  at  stem  and 
stern.  The  engine  was  open  to  view,  and  from  the 
engine  aft  a  house  like  that  of  a  canal-boat  was  raised 
to  cover  the  boiler  and  the  apartment  for  the  officers. 
There  were  no  wheel-guards.  The  rudder  was  of  the 
shape  used  in  sailing-vessels,  and  moved  by  a  tiller. 
The  boiler  was  of  the  form  then  used  in  Watt's  en- 
gines, and  was  set  in  masonry.  The  condenser  was 
of  the  size  used  habitually  in  land  engines,  and  stood, 
as  was  the  practice  in  them,  in  a  large  cold-watei 
cistern.  The  weight  of  the  masonry  and  the  great 
capacity  of  the  cold-water  cistern  diminished  very 
materially  the  buoyancy  of  the  vessel.  The  rudder 
had  so  little  power  that  she  could  hardly  be  managed. 
The  skippers  of  the  river  craft,  who  at  once  saw  that 
their  business  was  doomed,  took  advantage  of  the  un- 
wieldiness  of  the  vessel  to  run  foul  of  her  as  soon  as 
they  thought  they  had  the  law  on  their  side.  Thus, 
in  several  instances,  the  steamer  reached  one  or  the 
other  termini  of  the  route  with  but  a  single  wheel." 
1  Reigart,  p.  173. 
9 


130  ROBERT  FULTON. 

The  "American  Citizen"  of  August  17,  1807, 
says  :  — 

"  Mr.  Fulton's  ingenious  steamboat,  invented  with 
a  view  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  from  New 
Orleans  upward,  sails  to-day  from  the  North  River, 
near  State's  Prison,  to  Albany.  The  velocity  of  the 
steamboat  is  calculated  at  four  miles  an  hour.  It  is 
said  it  will  make  a  progress  of  two  against  the  current 


Fig.  15.  —  The  "  Clermont, "  1807. 

of  the  Mississippi,  and  if  so  it  will  certainly  be  a  very 
valuable  acquisition  to  the  commerce  of  Western 
States." 

What  would  this  sanguine  editor  have  thought,  had 
he  been  assured  that  the  "  Clermont  "  was  the  pioneer 
of  a  fleet  that  should  include  steamships  of  ten  thou- 
sand tons,  or  even  —  as  the  "  Great  Eastern," -—of 
thirty  thousand  tons  displacement ;  ships  that  should 
make  a  speed  of  twenty  miles  an  hour  at  sea ;  small 
torpedo  boats  carrying  out  the  idea  of  Fulton,  and 
pursuing  their  enemy  with  their  destructive  little 


THE  "CLERMONT."  131 

weapons  at  speeds  approaching  thirty  miles  an  hour; 
and  river  boats  passing  over  the  very  route  chosen 
for  Fulton's  first  trial-trip  at  the  speed  of  twenty-seven 
miles  an  hour,  and  at  their  "  slow  speeds,"  running 
from  New  York  to  Albany  in  ten  hours  or  less? 
What  would  he  have  thought,  had  he  dreamed  of 
steaming  from  New  York  to  Newport,  to  Fall  River, 
or  to  Providence  in  ten  to  twelve  hours  ?  Of  going 
from  St.  Louis  to  New  Orleans  in  four  days?  Of 
crossing  the  Atlantic  in  six? 


Fig.  16.  — Engine  of  the  "Clermont,"  1808. 

The  engine  of  the  "  Clermont"  (Figure  16),  as 
already  seen,  was  similar  to  that  of  Fulton's  French 
boat,  and  of  rather  peculiar  construction,  the  piston, 
E,  being  coupled  to  the  crank-shaft,  O,  by  a  bell-crank, 
/  H  P,  and  a  connecting-rod,  P  Q,  the  paddle-wheel 
shaft,  M  Ny  being  separate  from  the  crank-shaft,  and 
connected  with  the  latter  by  gearing,  O  O.  The 
paddle-wheels  had  buckets  four  feet  long,  with  a  dip 
of  two  feet. 

The  voyage  of  the  "  Clermont "  to  Albany  was 
attended  by  some  ludicrous  incidents.  Mr.  Colden 
says  that  she  was  described  "as  a  monster,  moving 


132  ROBERT  FULTON. 

on  the  waters,  defying  wind  and  tide,  and  breathing 
flames  and  smoke." 

This  boat  used  dry  pine  wood  for  fuel,  and  the 
flames  rose  to  a  considerable  distance  above  the 
smoke-pipe  ;  and  mingled  smoke  and  sparks  rose  high 
in  the  air.  "  This  uncommon  light  first  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  crews  of  other  vessels.  Notwith- 
standing the  wind  and  tide  were  averse  to  its  ap- 
proach, they  saw  with  astonishment  that  it  was  rapidly 
coming  toward  them ;  and  when  it  came  so  near  that 
the  noise  of  the  machinery  and  paddles  was  heard, 
the  crews  (if  what  was  said  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
time  be  true)  in  some  instances  shrank  beneath  their 
decks  from  the  terrific  sight,  and  left  their  vessels  to 
go  on  shore ;  while  others  prostrated  themselves,  and 
besought  Providence  to  protect  them  from  the  ap- 
proach of  the  horrible  monster  which  was  marching 
on  the  tides,  and  lighting  its  path  by  the  fires  which 
it  vomited." 

Fulton  used  several  of  the  now  familiar  features  of 
the  American  river  boat,  and  subsequently  introduced 
others. 

The  success  of  the  "  Clermont "  on  the  trial- trip 
was  such  that  Fulton  soon  after  advertised  the  vessel  as 
a  regular  passenger  boat  between  New  York  and  Albany. 

A  newspaper- slip  in  the  scrap-book  of  the  Author 
has  the  following  :  — 

"  The  traveller  of  to-day,  as  he  goes  on  board  the 
great  steamboats  '  St.  John '  or  '  Drew/  can  scarcely 
imagine  the  difference  between  such  floating  palaces 


THE  "  CLERMONT."  133 

and  the  wee-bit  punts  on  which  our  fathers  were 
wafted  sixty  years  ago.  We  may,  however,  get  some 
idea  of  the  sort  of  thing  then  in  use  by  a  perusal  of 
the  steamboat  announcements  of  that  time  two  of 
which  are  as  follows  :  — 

"  '  September  2,  1807. 

"  '  The  North  River  Steamboat  will  leave  Pauler's 
Hook  Ferry  [now  Jersey  City]  on  Friday,  the  4th  of 
September,  at  9  in  the  morning,  and  arrive  at  Albany 
on  Saturday,  at  9  in  the  afternoon.  Provisions,  good 
berths,  and  accommodations  are  provided. 

"  '  The  charge  to  each  passenger  is  as  follows  : 
"  '  To  Newburg  .     -       dols.  3,  time,  14  hours. 
"    Poughkeepsie .       "     4,       "17      " 
"   Esopus    ...       "5,       "      20      " 
"   Hudson  ...        "      5^,     "      30      " 
"   Albany    ...        "7,       "      36      " 

"  '  For  places,  apply  to  William  Vandervoort,  No.  48 
Courtlandt  Street,  on  the  corner  of  Greenwich  Street.1 

" '  Mr.  Fulton's  new-invented  Steamboat,  which  is 
fitted  up  in  a  neat  style  for  passengers,  and  is  intended 
to  run  from  New  York  to  Albany  as  a  Packet,  left 
here  this  morning  with  90  passengers,  against  a  strong 
head-wind.  Notwithstanding  which,  it  was  judged 
she  moved  through  the  waters  at  the  rate  of  six  miles 
an  hour.'  " 2 

1  Copy  of  an  advertisement  taken  from  the  "  Albany  Ga- 
zette," dated  September,  1807. 

2  Extract  from  the  "  New  York  Evening  Post,"  dated  Oc- 
tober 2,  1807. 


134  ROBERT  FULTON. 

During  the  next  winter  the  "  Clermont "  was  re- 
paired and  enlarged,  and  in  the  summer  of  1808  was 
again  on  the  route  to  Albany;  and,  meantime,  the 
two  new  steamboats,  the  "  Raritan  "  and  the  "Car 
of  Neptune,"  had  been  built.  In  the  year  1811 
Fulton  built  the  "  Paragon." 

Fulton  patented  novel  details  in  steam-engines  and 
steam- vessels  in  1811,  and  thus  secured  some  val- 
uable property,  though  by  no  means  sufficient  to  in- 
sure control  of  his  routes.  This  he  retained  for  a  few 
years;  but  up  to  1812,  at  least,  there  were  continual 
attempts  to  establish  rival  lines,  and  vessels  of  all 
kinds,  driven  by  engines  of  all  sorts,  practicable  and 
impracticable,  were  built  or  proposed  by  ambitious  in- 
ventors and  "grasping  capitalists."  In  the  winter  of 
1812  an  injunction  was  obtained  from  the  courts  in 
such  terms  that  a  perpetual  injunction  could  be  served 
on  all  the  opposition  lines,  and  Fulton  was  for  a  brief 
period  allowed  to  pursue  his  own  course  in  peace. 
A  number  of  boats  were  now  built  for  the  rapidly 
increasing  traffic  of  the  rivers  of  the  United  States, 
and  he  placed  some  even  on  the  "Father  of  Waters," 
where  he  fulfilled  the  prediction  of  his  unfortunate 
predecessor,  Fitch,  whose  remains  now  lie  quietly 
beside  one  of  its  tributaries. 

The  table  presented  on  page  135,  given  by  his  first 
biographer,  shows  the  number  and  the  principal  di- 
mensions of  the  boats  built  by  Fulton,  or  from  his 
plans,  including  the  last  three,  which,  though  built 
after  his  death,  are  the  most  satisfactory  of  all. 


CLERMONT." 


'35 


CHANCELLOR  LIVINGSTON. 

OLIVE  BRANCH. 
EMPEROR  of  RUSSIA. 

FULTON  THE  FIRST. 

FULTON. 

YORK  FERRY  boat. 
NASSAU  FERRY  boat. 

RICHMOND. 
WASHINGTON. 

<-«     ^ 

3    5 
1    J 
ff    * 

•a 
1 

•< 

1 

PARAGON. 

RARITAN. 
CAR  of  NEPTUNE. 

NORTH  RIVER,  orCLERMONT. 

NAMES. 

n 

>     2 
g-     g 

> 

po 

> 

po 

0     O 

3*        3* 

5  9 

0     O 

3*     cr 

0 

BT 

9  Q 

O 

r 

^ 

ryEckford. 

h  Brown, 
m  Brown. 

2 

^ 
I 

3 

^ 

a 

1 

•^      2L 

71           W 

Cd    Cd 
3     3 

?     3 

n>       rc 

cd     cd 

1  1 

W     td 

1  1 

B         3 

S3 

0 

i 

n 

$     w 
w     cd 

I  1 

Cd 
o 

whom  built. 

vj 

^ 

4>>         4»- 

ON 

*I 

ON         °° 

Cn         C*> 

00        g 

vi 

OJ 

Length. 

O 

p 

ON 

0 
bv        <» 

0 

o 

^a       vi 

NO         o 

VI      ^J 

vO 

00 

vj 

Depth. 

n> 

3 

4» 

O4 

I  " 

^ 

•g 

OJ         OJ 

£        o 

10          vS 

^a 

-^ 

5b 

Breadth. 

1 

ON 

g 

o 

4»-  . 

8     8 

g    s 

0        -^ 

s 

00 

8 

Length  . 

w 

0 

i 

00 

00 

00       vO 

vO          g 

O        sO 

0 

OO 

VJ 

Depth. 

5 

i 

to 

0 

s   ^ 

OO       vO 

vO          00 

vO 

vO 

00 

Breadth. 

4 

"o 

o> 

to 

ON 

o      o 

W          OJ 

ON        U) 

S     8 

« 

OJ 

to 

Cylinder. 

M 

«R. 

4>> 

w 

4» 

Stroke. 

3 
P 

00 

ON 

ON 

01 

N           M 

*.          Ul 

10    '<* 

CN 

* 

"S 

^ 
(0 

0 

4x 

0 

4* 

4> 
0 

4^         4*. 

-  s 

-  b, 

4* 

4^ 

4^ 

Length  of 
Bucket. 

M 

1 

M 

ON 

4>- 

ON 

to        to 

d>         ON 

M  M  1 

b» 

4» 

" 

Dip. 

n 

£L 

ON 

O 

N) 
^J 

OJ 
NO 

to       oj 

OO 

OJ 

o       to 

& 

Tonnage. 

^ 

00 

CO         00 

00 

CO 

00         00 

00        00 

00         00 

03 

ff  g5 

g 

B 

£. 
F 

Hudson  River. 

Between  N.  Y. 
New-Brunsw 
Undetermined. 

Navy  Yard. 

r 

1 

a. 

Ferry  Company 
Brooklyn  Comp 

Hudson  River. 
Potomac  River 

From  New-Yor 
to  Newburgh 
Ferry  Company 

Hudson  River. 

Raritan  River. 
Hudson  River. 

Hudson  River. 

Where  employe 

136  ROBERT  FULTON. 

" Steam,"  says  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine"  for 
December,  1809,  "  has  been  applied  in  America  to 
the  purpose  of  inland  navigation  with  the  greatest 
success.  The  passage  boat  between  New  York  and 
Albany  is  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  and  wide 
in  proportion  for  accommodations,  consisting  of  fifty- 
two  berths,  besides  sofas,  etc.,  for  one  hundred  pas- 
sengers ;  and  the  machine  which  moves  her  wheels  is 
equal  to  the  power  of  twenty-four  horses,  and  is  kept 
in  motion  by  steam  from  a  copper  boiler  eight  or  ten 
feet  in  length.  Her  route  is  a  distance  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles,  which  she  performs  regularly 
twice  a  week,  and  sometimes  in  the  short  space  of 
thirty- two  hours."  An  amazing  tale  ! 

According  to  Golden,  the  last  boat  which  was  con- 
structed under  Mr.  Fulton's  directions,  and  according 
to  drawings  and  plans  furnished  by  him,  is  that  which, 
in  1816,  navigated  the  sound  from  New  York  to  New 
Haven.  She  was  of  nearly  four  hundred  tons  burden, 
built  of  uncommon  strength,  and  fitted  up  with  all 
conveniences  and  great  elegance.  She  was  the  first 
steamboat  with  a  round  bottom  like  a  sea-going  ship. 
This  form  was  adopted,  because,  for  a  great  part  of 
the  route,  she  would  be  as  much  exposed  as  on  the 
ocean.  It  was  therefore,  necessary,  to  make  her  a 
good  sea-boat.  She  passed  daily,  and  at  all  times 
of  the  tide,  the  then  dangerous  strait  of  Hell-Gate 
where,  for  a  mile,  she  frequently  encountered  a  cur- 
rent running  at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  miles  an  hour. 
For  some  distance  she  had  within  a  few  yards,  on 
each  side,  rocks  and  whirlpools  which  rivalled  Scylla 


THE  "CLERMONT."  137 

and  Charybdis,  even  as  they  are  poetically  described. 
This  passage,  previously  to  its  being  navigated  by  this 
steamer,  was  supposed  to  be  impassable  except  at  the 
change  of  the  tide ;  and  many  shipwrecks  had  been 
occasioned  by  a  mistake  in  time.  "  The  boat  passing 
through  these  whirlpools  with  rapidity,  while  the  angry 
waters  foamed  against  her  bows,  and  appeared  to 
raise  themselves  in  obstinate  resistance  to  her  pas- 
sage, is  a  proud  triumph  of  human  ingenuity.  The 
owners,  as  the  highest  tribute  they  had  in  their  power 
to  offer  to  his  genius,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  grati- 
tude they  owed  him,  called  her  the  "  Fulton."  x 

A  steam  ferry-boat  was  built  to  ply  between  New 
York  and  Jersey  City  in  1812,  and  the  next  year  two 
others,  to  connect  with  Brooklyn.  These  were  "  twin- 
boats  "  the  two  hulls  being  connected  by  a  "  bridge  " 
or  deck  common  to  both.  The  Jersey  ferry  was 
crossed  in  fifteen  minutes,  the  distance  being  a  mile 
and  a  half.  Fulton's  boat  carried,  at  one  load,  eight 
carriages,  and  about  thirty  horses,  and  still  had  room 
for  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  foot-passengers. 

Fulton's  description  of  one  of  these  boats  is  as 
follows  :  — 

"  She  is  built  of  two  boats,  each  ten  feet  beam, 
eighty  feet  long,  and  five  feet  deep  in  the  hold ;  which 
boats  are  distant  from  each  otner  ten  feet,  confined 
by  strong  transverse  beam-knees  and  diagonal  traces, 
forming  a  deck  thirty  feet  wide  and  eighty  feet  long. 
The  propelling  water-wheel  is  placed  between  the 
boats  to  prevent  it  from  injury  from  ice  and  shocks  on 

1  Colden's  Life  of  Fulton,  p.  190. 


138  ROBERT  FULTON. 

entering  or  approaching  the  dock.  The  whole  of  the 
machinery  being  placed  between  the  two  boats,  leaves 
ten  feet  on  the  deck  of  each  boat  for  carriages,  horses 
and  cattle,  etc. ;  the  other,  having  neat  benches  and 
covered  with  an  awning,  is  for  passengers,  and  there 
is  also  a  passage  and  stairway  to  a  neat  cabin,  which  is 
fifty  feet  long  and  five  feet  clear  from  the  floor  to  the 
beams,  furnished  with  benches,  and  provided  with  a 
stove  in  winter.  Although  the  two  boats  and  space 
between  them  gives  thirty  feet  beam,  yet  they  present 
sharp  bows  to  the  water,  and  have  only  the  resistance 
in  the  water  of  one  boat  of  twenty  beam.  Both  ends 
being  alike,  and  each  having  a  rudder,  she  never  puts 
about."  1 

Meantime,  the  War  of  1812  was  in  progress,  and 
Fulton  designed  a  steam  vessel-of-war,  which  was  then 
considered  a  wonderfully  formidable  craft.  Fulton 
proposed  to  build  a  vessel  capable  of  carrying  a  heavy 
battery,  and  of  steaming  four  miles  an  hour.  The 
ship  was  fitted  with  furnaces  for  red-hot  shot,  and 
some  of  her  guns  were  to  be  discharged  below  the 
water-line.  The  estimated  cost  was  $320,000.  The 
construction  of  the  vessel  was  authorized  by  Congress 
in  March,  1814;  the  keel  was  laid  June  20,  1814, 
and  the  vessel  was  launched  October  29  of  the  same 
year. 

The  "  Fulton  the  First,"  as  she  was  called,  was  then 
considered  an  enormous  vessel.  The  hull  was  double, 
156  feet  long,  56  feet  wide,  and  20  feet  deep,  measur- 
ing 2,475  tons-  In  May  the  ship  was  ready  for  her  en- 

1  Preble,  page  59. 


THE  "CLERMONT."  139 

gine,  and  in  July  was  so  far  completed  as  to  steam,  on 
a  trial-trip,  to  the  ocean  at  Sandy  Hook  and  back,  53 
miles,  in  eight  hours  and  twenty  minutes.  In  Septem- 
ber, with  armament  and  stores  on  board,  the  ship  made 
for  sea  and  for  battle ;  the  same  route  was  traversed, 
the  vessel  making  5^  miles  an  hour.  Her  engine, 
having  a  steam-cylinder  48  inches  in  diameter  and  of 
5  feet  stroke  of  piston,  was  furnished  with  steam  by  a 
copper  boiler  22  feet  long,  12  feet  wide,  and  8  feet 
high,  and  turned  a  wheel,  between  the  two  hulls,  16 
feet  in  diameter,  with  "buckets"  14  feet  long,  and  a 
dip  of  4  feet.  The  sides  were  4  feet  i  o  inches  thick, 
and  her  spar-deck  was  surrounded  by  musket-proof 
bulwarks.  The  armament  consisted  of  30  3  2 -pound- 
ers, intended  to  discharge  red-hot  shot.  There  was 
one  mast  for  each  hull,  fitted  with  lateen  sails.  Large 
pumps  were  carried,  intended  to  throw  streams  of 
water  on  the  decks  of  the  enemy,  with  a  view  to  dis- 
abling him  by  wetting  his  ordnance  and  ammunition. 
A  submarine  gun  was  to  have  been  carried  at  each 
bow,  to  discharge  shot  weighing  one  hundred  pounds, 
at  a  depth  of  ten  feet  below  water. 

This,  for  the  time,  tremendous  engine-of-war  was 
constructed  in  response  to  a  demand  from  the  citizens 
of  New  York  for  a  means  of  harbour  defence.  They 
appointed  what  was  called  a  Coast  and  Harbour 
Defence  Committee ;  and  this  committee  examined 
Fulton's  plans,  and  called  the  attention  of  the  General 
Government  to  them.  The  Government  appointed  a 
Board  of  Experts  from  among  its  most  famous  naval 
officers,  including  Commodore  Decatur,  Captains 


14°  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Paul  Jones,  Evans,  and  Biddle,  Commodore  Perry, 
and  Captains  Warrington  and  Lewis.  They  reported 
unanimously  in  favour  of  the  proposed  construction, 
and  set  forth  her  advantages  over  all  previously  known 
forms  of  war- vessel.  The  citizens'  committee  offered 
to  guarantee  the  expense  of  building  the  ship ;  and 
the  construction  was  undertaken  under  the  supervision 
of  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  consisting 
of  several  then  distinguished  men,  both  military  and 
naval.  Congress  authorized  the  building  of  coast- 
defence  vessels  by  the  President,  in  March,  1814, 
and  Fulton  at  once  started  the  work  of  construction, 
Messrs.  Adam  and  Noah  Brown  building  the  hull, 
and  the  engines  being  placed  on  board  and  in  work- 
ing order  within  a  year. 

The  death  of  Fulton  took  place  in  the  year  1815, 
while  in  the  height  of  his  fame  and  of  his  usefulness. 
He  had  been  called  to  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  in  Jan- 
uary of  that  year,  to  give  testimony  before  the  State 
legislature  in  reference  to  the  proposed  repeal  of 
laws  which  had  interfered  with  the  operation  of  the 
ferry-boats  and  other  steam-vessels  plying  between  the 
city  of  New  York  and  the  New  Jersey  shore.  It  hap- 
pened that  the  weather  was  cold,  he  was  exposed  to 
its  severity  both  at  Trenton  and,  especially,  crossing 
the  Hudson  River  on  his  return,  and  took  a  cold  from 
which  he  never  recovered.  He  became  apparently 
convalescent  after  a  few  days ;  but  insisted  on  visiting 
the  new  steam-frigate  too  soon,  to  inspect  work  in 
progress  there,  and  on  his  return  home  experienced 
a  relapse,  —  his  illness  finally  resulting  in  his  death, 


THE  "  CLERMONT."  141 

February  24,  1815.  He  left  a  wife  (nee  Harriet 
Livingston)  and  four  children,  three  of  whom  were 
daughters. 

Robert  Fulton  died  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  government;  and  although  engaged  for  years 
in  devoting  time  and  talents  to  the  best  interests  of 
our  country,  still  the  public  records  show  that  the 
Government  was  indebted  to  his  estate  upwards  of 
$100,000  for  moneys  actually  expended  and  services 
rendered  by  him,  agreeably  to  contract.1 

When  the  legislature,  then  in  session  at  Albany, 
heard  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Fulton,  they  expressed 
their  sentiments  of  regret  by  resolving  that  the  mem- 
bers of  both  houses  should  wear  mourning  for  six 
weeks. 

•This  is  the  only  instance,  according  to  Golden,  up 
to  that  time,  of  such  public  testimonials  of  regret, 
esteem,  and  respect  being  offered  on  the  death  of  a 
private  citizen,  who  was  only  distinguished  by  his 
virtues,  his  genius,  and  his  talents. 

He  was  buried  February  25,  1815.  His  funeral 
was  attended  by  all  the  officers  of  the  National  and 
State  governments  then  in  the  city,  by  the  magis- 
tracy, the  common  council,  a  number  of  societies, 
and  a  greater  number  of  citizens  than  had  ever  been 
collected  on  any  similar  occasion.  When  the  pro- 
cession began  to  move,  and  until  it  arrived  at  Trinity 
Church,  minute-guns  were  fired  from  the  steam-frigate 
and  the  Battery.  His  body  is  deposited  in  a  vault 
belonging  to  the  Livingston  family. 

1  Reigart,  p.  203. 


I42  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Mr.  Fulton  is  described  as  a  tall  man,  about  six 
feet  in  height,  slender,  but  well  proportioned.  "  Na- 
ture had  made  him  a  gentleman,  and  bestowed  upon 
him  ease  and  gracefulness."  He  had  too  much  good 
sense  to  exhibit  affectation,  and  confidence  in  his 
own  worth  and  talents  gave  him  a  pleasing  deport- 
ment in  all  companies.  His  features  were  strong  and 
handsome ;  he  had  large  dark  eyes,  a  projecting 
brow,  and  features  expressive  of  intelligence  and 
thought  j  his  disposition  was  mild  yet  lively,  and  he 
was  fond  of  society.  He  conversed  with  energy, 
fluency,  and  correctness ;  and,  owing  more  to  expe- 
rience and  reflection  than  to  books,  he  was  often 
interesting  in  his  originality. 

In  all  his  social  relations  he  was  kind,  generous, 
and  affectionate.  His  only  use  for  money  was  to 
make  it  an  aid  to  charity,  hospitality,  and  the  pro- 
motion of  science.  He  was  especially  distinguished 
by  constancy,  industry,  and  that  union  of  patience 
and  persistence  which  overcame  every  difficulty. 

Robert  Fulton  has  never,  even  yet,  received  either 
in  kind  or  degree  the  credit  that  is  justly  his  due. 
Those  members  of  the  engineering  profession  who 
have  become  familiar  with  his  work  through  the  ordi- 
nary channels  of  information  generally  look  upon 
him  as  a  talented  artist  and  fortunate  amateur  en- 
gineer, whose  fancies  led  him  into  many  strange 
vagaries,  and  whose  enthusiastic  advocacy  of  a  new 
method  of  transportation  —  the  success  of  which  was 
already  assured  by  the  ingenuity  and  skill  of  James 
Watt,  Oliver  Evans,  and  John  Fitch,  and  by  the  really 


THE  "CLERMONT."  143 

intelligent  methods  of  those  early  professional  engi- 
neers, the  Messrs.  Stevens  —  gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity of  grasping  the  prize  of  which  Chancellor 
Livingston  had  secured  the  legal  control.  By  such 
engineers  as  know  only  of  his  work  on  the  Seine  and 
the  Hudson  in  the  introduction  of  the  steamboat,  he 
is  not  considered  as  an  inventor,  but  simply  as  one 
who  profited  by  the  inventions  of  others,  and  who, 
taking  advantage  of  circumstances,  and  gaining  credit 
which  was  not  of  right  wholly  his  own,  acquired  a 
reputation  vastly  out  of  proportion  to  his  real  merits. 

The  layman,  judging  only  from  the  popular  tradi- 
tions, and  the  incomplete  historical  accounts  that 
have  come  to  him,  supposes  Robert  Fulton  to  have 
been  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  and  on  that 
ground  regards  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  mechanics 
and  engineers  that  the  world  has  seen. 

The  truth  undoubtedly  is,  as  we  have  now  seen, 
that  Fulton  was  not  "  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat," 
and  that  the  reputation  acquired  by  his  successful 
introduction  of  steam-navigation  is  largely  accidental, 
and  is  principally  due  to  the  possession,  in  company 
with  Livingston,  of  a  monopoly  which  drove  from 
this  most  promising  field  those  original  and  skilful 
engineers,  Evans  and  the  Stevenses.  No  one  of  the 
essential  devices  successfully  used  by  Fulton  in  the 
"Clermont,"  his  first  North  River  steamboat,  was 
new ;  and  no  one  of  them  differed,  to  any  great 
extent,  from  devices  successfully  adopted  by  earlier 
experimenters.  Fulton's  success  was  a  commercial 
success  purely.  John  Stevens  had,  in  1804,  built  a 


1 44  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

successful  screw  steam-vessel ;  and  his  paddle-steamer 
of  1807,  the  "Phoenix,"  was  very  possibly  a  better 
piece  of  engineering  than  the  "Clermont."  John 
Fitch  had,  still  earlier,  used  both  screw  and  paddle. 
In  England,  Miller  and  Symmington  and  Lord  Dun- 
das  had  antedated  even  Fulton's  earliest  experiments 
on  the  Seine.  Indeed,  it  seems  not  at  all  unlikely 
that  Papin,  a  century  earlier  (in  1707),  had  he  been 
given  a  monopoly  of  steam-navigation  on  the  Weser 
or  the  Fulda,  and  had  he  been  joyfully  hailed  by  the 
Hanoverians  as  a  public  benefactor,  as  was  Fulton  in 
the  United  States,  instead  of  being  proscribed  and 
assaulted  by  the  mob  who  destroyed  his  earlier  "  Cler- 
mont," might  have  been  equally  successful;  or  it  may 
be  that  the  French  inventor,  Jouifroy,  who  experi- 
mented on  the  rivers  of  France  twenty-five  years 
before  Fulton,  might,  with  similar  encouragement, 
have  gained  an  equal  success. 

Yet  although  Fulton  was  not  in  any  true  sense 
"  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,"  his  services  in  the 
work  of  introducing  that  miracle  of  our  modern  time 
cannot  be  overestimated ;  and,  aside  from  his  claim 
as  the  first  to  grasp  success  among  the  many  who  were 
then  bravely  struggling  to  place  steam-navigation  on 
a  permanent  and  safe  basis,  he  is  undeniably  entitled 
to  all  the  praise  that  has  ever  been  accorded  him  on 
such  different  ground. 

It  is  to  Robert  Fulton  that  we  owe  the  fact  that 
to-day  the  rivers  of  our  own  country,  and  those  of 
the  world  as  well,  are  traversed  by  steamers  of  all 
sizes  and  all  kinds,  and  by  boats  suited  to  every  kind 


THE  "CLERMONT."  145 

of  traffic ;  that  the  ocean  floats,  in  every  clime  and 
in  all  its  harbours,  fleets  of  great  steamers,  transport- 
ing passengers  and  merchandise  from  the  United 
States  to  Europe,  from  Liverpool  to  Hong- Kong,  from 
London  to  Melbourne,  traversing  the  "  doldrums  "  as 
steadily  and  safely  and  as  rapidly  as  the  regions  of 
the  trades  or  either  temperate  zone.  Steam-naviga- 
tion without  Fulton  would  undoubtedly  have  become 
an  established  fact ;  but  no  one  can  say  how  long  the 
world,  without  that  great  engineer  and  statesman, 
would  have  been  compelled  to  wait,  or  how  much  the 
progress  of  the  world  might  have  been  retarded  by 
his  failure,  had  it  occurred.  The  name  of  Fulton 
well  deserves  to  be  coupled  with  those  of  Newcomen 
and  Watt,  the  inventors  of  the  steam-engine ;  with 
those  of  George  and  Robert  Stephenson,  the  builders 
of  the  railway;  and  with  those  of  Morse  and  Bell, 
who  have  given  us  the  telegraph  and  the  telephone. 


146  ROBERT    FULTON. 


VII. 

RIVER   AND    OCEAN    STEAM- FLEETS. 

WHILE  Robert  Fulton  and  his  rivals  in  the  United 
States  were  thus  bringing  into  fruition  the  dreams  of 
a  century,  inventors  in  other  parts  of  the  world  were 
by  no  means  idle.  In  Great  Britain,  Miller,  Taylor, 
Symmington,  and  Lord  Dundas  had  set  an  example 
which  was  well  emulated  by  Henry  Bell,  of  Glasgow, 
in  1812,  when  he  built  the  "Comet"  at  Greenock, 
on  the  Clyde,  —  the  first  passenger  steamer  constructed 
in  Europe.  The  boat  was  laid  down  in  1811,  and 
completed  Jan.  18,  1812,  and  proved  to  be  a  success. 
It  was  of  30  tons  burden,  40  feet  long,  10  feet  beam, 
and  driven  by  two  pairs  of  paddle-wheels,  worked  by 
engines  rated  at  but  three  horse-power. 

Bell's  boat  was  advertised  as  a  passenger  boat,  to 
leave  Greenock  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays,  and  Fri- 
days, for  Glasgow,  twenty-four  miles  distant,  returning 
Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays.  The  fare  was 
made  "  four  shillings  for  the  best  cabin,  and  three 
shillings  for  the  second."  It  was  some  months  be- 
fore the  vessel  became  considered  a  trustworthy 
means  of  conveyance. 

Bell  constructed  several  boats  in  1815,  and  with 
his  success  steam-navigation  in  Great  Britain  was 
fairly  inaugurated.  In  1814  there  were  five  steamers, 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.        147 

all  Scotch,  regularly  working  in  British  waters.  In 
1820  there  were  thirty-four,  —  one  half  of  which  were 
in  England,  fourteen  in  Scotland,  and  the  remainder 
in  Ireland.  Twenty  years  later,  at  the  close  of  the 
period  to  which  this  chapter  is  especially  devoted, 
there  were  about  thirteen  hundred  and  twenty-five 
steam- vessels  in  that  kingdom,  of  which  about  a  thou- 
sand were  English,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  Scotch.1 

During  this  period  the  introduction  of  the  steam- 
boat on  the  great  rivers  of  the  United  States  was  one 
of  the  most  notable  events  of  history.  Inaugurated 
by  Evans,  the  building  of  steam-vessels  once  begun, 
never  ceased ;  and  not  long  after  Fitch's  burial  on  the 
bank  of  the  Ohio,  his  last  wish  —  that  he  might  lie 
"  where  the  song  of  the  boatman  would  enliven  the 
stillness  of  his  resting-place,  and  the  music  of  the 
steam-engine  soothe  his  spirit"  —  was  fulfilled. 

Nicholas  J.  Roosevelt  was  the  first  to  take  a  steam- 
boat down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  His  boat  was 
built  at  Pittsburgh  in  181 1  from  Fulton's  plans.  It  was 
called  the  "New  Orleans,"  of  about  two  hundred  tons 
burden,  and  was  propelled  by  a  stern-wheel,  assisted, 
at  times,  by  sails  on  two  masts.  The  hull  was  138 
feet  long,  and  30  feet  beam.  The  cost  of  the  boat, 
including  engines,  was  about  $40,000.  The  builder, 
with  his  family,  an  engineer,  a  pilot,  and  six  "  deck- 
hands," left  Pittsburgh  in  October,  1811,  reached 
Louisville  in  seventy  hours  (about  ten  miles  an  hour) , 
and  New  Orleans  in  fourteen  days,  steaming  from 
Natchez. 

The  next  steamers  built  on  Western  waters  were 
1  Thurston's  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  249. 


148  ROBERT  FULTON. 

probably  the  "Comet"  and  the  " Vesuvius."  The 
"  Comet "  was  finally  laid  aside,  and  the  engine  used 
to  drive  a  saw-mill ;  and  the  "  Vesuvius  "  was  destroyed 
by  the  explosion  of  her  boilers.  In  1813  there  were 
two  shops  at  Pittsburgh  building  steam-engines,  and  it 
is  stated  that  as  early  as  1840  there  were  a.  thousand 
steamers  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries. 

In  the  "Washington"  (built  at  Wheeling,  Va.,  in 
1816,  by  Capt.  H.  M.  Shreve)  the  boilers,  previously 
placed  in  the  hold,  were  carried  on  the  main-deck, 
and  a  "hurricane-deck"  was  built  over  them.  Two 
horizontal  direct-acting  engines  were  adopted  instead 
of  the  single  upright  engine  used  by  Fulton,  and  were 
driven  by  high-pressure  steam  without  condensation. 
The  engines,  one  on  each  side  of  the  boat,  were  at- 
tached to  cranks  placed  at  right  angles.  He  adopted 
a  cam  cut-off,  and  the  flue-boiler  of  Evans.  At  that 
time  the  voyage  to  New  Orleans  from  Louisville  occu- 
pied three  weeks,  and  Shreve  was  made  the  subject 
of  many  witticisms  when  he  predicted  that  the  time 
would  be  shortened  to  ten  days.  It  is  now  made  in 
four  days.1 

The  death  of  Fulton  left  the  work  of  introduction 
of  the  steamboat  on  the  rivers  of  the  country  in  the 
hands  of  others  no  less  able  and  enterprising  than  he ; 
and  the  expiration  or  repeal  of  the  provisions  giving 
the  monopoly  of  steam-navigation  on  the  Hudson  to 
his  company  permitted  them  to  proceed  with  their 
plans  undisturbed.  The  courts  ruled,  finally,  that 
only  the  General  Government  could  control  the  navi- 
gation of  tide-waters  and  navigable  rivers  communi- 

1  Thurston's  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  249. 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       149 

eating  directly  with  the  sea ;  the  provisions  for  reward- 
ing inventors  by  a  patent-system  covering  the  whole 
country  and  administered  by  the  United  States  patent 
office  gave  good  reason  for  withdrawing  the  special 
laws  previously  sustained  by  the  several  States,  for  giv- 
ing this  kind  of  monopoly,  where  legal,  even;  and 
the  whole  river-system  of  the  country  was  open  to  all. 

The  steam-navigation  of  the  Hudson  soon  fell 
largely  into  the  hands  of  the  Stevens,  father  and  sons ; 
and  they,  mainly  through  the  ingenuity  and  skill  of 
Robert  L.  Stevens,1  soon  established  what  has  come 
to  be  recognized  as  a  peculiarly  admirable  type  of 
craft  for  these  long  inland  routes. 

Referring  to  his  valuable  services,  President  King, 
then  of  Columbia  College,  who  seems  to  have  been 
the  first  to  appreciate  the  original  invention  and  the 
excellence  of  the  engineering  of  this  family,  in  a  lec- 
ture delivered  in  New  York,  in  185 1,  gave  a  connected 
and  probably  accurate  description  of  their  work. 

Young  Stevens  began  working  in  his  father's 
machine-shop  when  a  mere  boy,  and  acquired  at  a 
very  early  age  familiarity  with  details  of  work  and  of 
business.  It  was  he  who  introduced  the  "  hollow 
water-line  "  in  the  "  Phoenix."  In  the  same  vessel 
he  adopted  a  feathering  paddle-wheel  and  the  guard- 
beam  now  universally  seen  in  river  steamboats. 

The  "Philadelphia"  was  built  in  1813,  and   the 

1  The  Author  has  compiled  a  memorandum  of  the  work  of 
this  remarkable  engineer,  the  perusal  of  which  may  give  some 
idea  of  the  ingenuity  and  versatility  of  his  talents.  See  the 
Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  1874. 


150  ROBERT  FULTON. 

young  engineer  introduced  several  new  devices,  includ- 
ing screw-bolts  in  place  of  "  tree-nails,"  and  diagonal 
knees.  Two  years  later  he  altered  the  engines,  and 
arranged  them  to  work  steam  expansively.  A  little 
later  he  began  using  anthracite  coal.  Stevens  was 
the  first  of  whom  we  have  record  who  was  thor- 
oughly successful  in  using  the  new  fuel.  Mr.  R.  L. 
Stevens' s  labours  and  inventions  in  mechanics,  should 
have  more  fitting  commemoration  than  can  be  given 
in  any  passing  notice.  Of  some  of  them  the  follow- 
ing is  the  chronological  record  :  — 

1808.  Hollow  or  concave  water-lines  in  the  bow 
were  introduced  for  the  first  time  in  the  steamboat 
"Phoenix;"  these  lines,  under  the  name  of  "wave 
lines,"  are  now  claimed  as  a  recent  application.     On 
the  same  vessel,  in  1809,  he  first  used  the  feathering- 
wheel  with  vertical  buckets  on  pivots. 

1809.  He    suspended   the   guard-beam   by   iron 
rods  from  above,  as  is  now  universally  done  in  river 
steamers. 

1813-14.  The  war  with  England  being  in  prog- 
ress, he  invented  the  elongated  shell,  to  be  fired  from 
ordinary  cannon.  Having  perfected  this  invention, 
he  sold  the  secret  to  the  United  States,  after  experi- 
ments so  decisive  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  efficacy 
of  such  projectiles.  In  one  of  these  experiments 
made  at  Governor's  Island  in  the  presence  of  officers 
of  the  army,  a  target  of  white  oak,  four  feet  thick,  was 
completely  destroyed  by  a  shell  weighing  two  hundred 
pounds  and  containing  thirteen  pounds  of  powder; 
the  opening  made  was  large  enough,  as  the  certificate 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       151 

of  the  officer  commanding,  Colonel  House,  stated,  for 
a  man  and  horse  to  enter. 

These  shells  were  said  to  be  free  from  the  danger 
accompanying  ordinary  shells,  for  they  were  hermeti- 
cally sealed.  Some,  after  being  kept  twenty-five  years, 
were  tested  by  exploding  gunpowder  under  them,  and 
then  taken  to  high  places  and  let  fall  on  rocks  below, 
without  causing  them  to  explode.  After  this  they 
were  plunged  into  water,  and  finally  being  put  into 
the  gun,  were  fired,  and  upon  striking,  exploded  with 
devastating  effect. 

1813.  First  to  fasten  planks  and  braces  of  steam- 
boats with  screw-bolts,  and  to  place  diagonal  knees 
inside. 

1815.  First  to  use  steam  expansively  in  the 
"  Philadelphia." 

1818.  First  to  burn  anthracite  coal  in  a  cupola 
furnace,  and  subsequently  to  introduce  this  fuel  in 
steamers,  —  the  "Passaic"  being  the  earliest. 

1822.  He  made  the  skeleton  wrought- iron  walk- 
ing-beam now  in  general  use. 

1824.  First  to  place  the  boilers  on  the  guards, 
and  to  divide  the  buckets  on  the  wheel. 

1827.  First,  on  steamboat  "North  America,"  to 
apply  artificial  blast  to  the  furnace,  and  in  the  same 
boat  to  apply  what  is  technically  known  as  the  "  hog- 
frame,"  consisting  of  large  timbers  along  the  sides,  to 
prevent  the  boat  from  being  "  hogged." 

1828.  First  to  apply  steel  spring  bearings,  under 
the  centre  of  the  paddle-shaft  of  the  steamer  "  New 
Philadelphia." 


i  5  2  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

1832.  First  to  introduce  perfectly  balanced  valves, 
which  enabled  one  man  to  work  the  largest  engine 
with  ease.  In  the  same  year  he  used  braces  to  the 
connecting-rod,  thus  preventing  its  tremulous  motion. 

1832-33.  Constructed  a  boat  capable  of  navigat- 
ing through  heavy  ice.  In  the  same  year  he  intro- 
duced tubular  boilers. 

1840.  Improved  the  packing  of  pistons  for  steam- 
engines  by  using  the  pressure  of  steam  to  retain  the 
packing-ring  against  the  surface  of  the  cylinder. 

1841.  The   Stevens   Cut-off,  by  means   of  main 
valves  worked  by  two  eccentrics,  invented  by  R.  L. 
Stevens  and  his  nephew  F.  B.  Stevens.     In  the  same 
year  he  invented  and  applied  on  the  Camden  and 
Amboy  railroad  the  double-slide  cut-off  for  locomo- 
tives and  large  engines,  and  improved   locomotives 
by  using  eight  wheels,  and  with  increased  adhesion 
was  enabled  to  turn  short  curves  with  little  friction  on 
the  flanges ;  also  used  anthracite  as  a  fuel  to  great 
advantage  on  the  heavy  engines. 

1842.  Having  contracted  to  build  for  the  United 
States  government  a  large  war-steamer,  shot  and  shell 
proof,  R.  L.  Stevens  built  a  steamboat  at  Bordentown 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  experimenting  on  the  forms 
and  curves  of  propeller-blades,  as  compared  with  side- 
wheels,    and   continued    his    experiments    for    many 
months.     While  occupied  with  this  design  he  invented 
about  1 844,  and  took  a  patent  for,  a  mode  of  turning 
a  steamship  of  war  by  means  of  a  cross  propeller  near 
the  stern,  so  that  if  one  battery  were  disabled,  she 
might  promptly  present  the  other. 


RIVER  AND    OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.      153 

1848.  This  year  he  succeeded  in  advantageously 
using  anthracite  in  fast  passenger  locomotives. 

1849  witnessed  the  successful  application  of  air 
under  the  bottom  of  steamer  "John  Neilson,"  where- 
by friction  is  so  much  diminished,  that  she  actually 
attained,  as  stated  by  President  King,  the  speed  of 
twenty  miles  an  hour.  This  was  the  invention  of 
R.  L.  Stevens  and  F.  B.  Stevens. 

The  name  of  Robert  L.  Stevens  will  long  be  remem- 
bered as  that  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  American 
mechanics,  the  most  intelligent  of  naval  architects, 
and  as  the  first,  and  one  of  the  greatest,  of  those  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  beginning  of  the 
mightiest  of  revolutions  in  the  methods  and  imple- 
ments of  modern  naval  warfare.  American  mechani- 
cal genius  and  engineering  skill  have  rarely  been  too 
promptly  recognized,  and  no  excuse  will  be  required 
for  an  attempt  (which  it  is  hoped  may  yet  be  made) 
to  place  such  splendid  work  as  that  of  the  Messrs. 
Stevens  in  a  light  which  shall  reveal  both  its  variety 
and  extent  and  its  immense  importance. 

As  early  as  August,  1841,  his  brothers,  James  C. 
and  Edwin  A.  Stevens,  representing  Robert  L.,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  pro- 
posing to  build  an  iron-clad  vessel  of  high  speed, 
with  all  its  machinery  below  the  water-line,  and  hav- 
ing submerged  screw-propellers.  The  armament  was 
to  consist  of  powerful  breech-loading  rifled  guns, 
provided  with  elongated  shot  and  shell.  In  the  year 
1842,  having  contracted  to  build  for  the  United 
States  government  a  steamer  on  this  plan,  Robert  L. 


154  ROBERT  FULTON 

Stevens  built  his  steamboat  at  Bordentown,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  experimenting  on  the  forms  and 
curves  of  propeller-blades,  as  compared  with  side- 
wheels,  and,  as  already  stated,  worked  many  months. 
After  some  delay,  the  keel  of  an  iron-clad  was  laid 
down.  This  vessel  was  to  have  been  250  feet  long, 
40  feet  beam,  and  28  feet  deep.  The  machinery 
was  700  horse-power.  The  plating  was  proposed 
to  be  4  J  inches  thick,  —  the  thickness  adopted  ten 
years  later  by  the  French. 

In  1854  such  marked  progress  had  been  made 
that  Mr.  Stevens  was  no  longer  willing  to  proceed 
with  the  original  plans,  and  work,  which  had  pro- 
gressed very  slowly  and  intermittently,  was  stopped 
entirely;  and  in  1854  the  keel  of  a  ship  of  much 
greater  size  and  power  was  laid  down.  The  new 
design  was  415  feet  long,  of  45  feet  beam,  and  of 
something  over  5,000  tons  displacement,  while  its 
machinery  was  of  8,600  horse-power.  The  thickness 
of  armor  proposed  was  6|  inches.  The  engines  were 
to  drive  twin  screws,  propelling  the  vessel  twenty  miles 
or  more  an  hour. 

The  remarkable  genius  of  Stevens  is  in  no  way 
better  exemplified  than  by  the  accuracy  with  which, 
in  this  great  ship,  those  forms  and  proportions  were 
adopted  which  are  now,  many  years  later,  recognized 
as  most  correct  under  similar  conditions.  The  lines 
of  the  vessel  were  beautifully  fair  and  fine,  —  what 
J.  Scott  Russell  called  "wave-lines,"  or  trochoidal 
lines,  and  are  now  known  to  be  the  best  possible  for 
easy  propulsion. 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       155 

The  death  of  Robert  L.  Stevens  occurred  in  April, 
1856,  when  the  hull  and  machinery  were  practically 
finished,  and  it  only  remained  to  add  the  armour- 
plating,  and  to  decide  upon  the  form  of  fighting- 
house  and  the  number  and  size  of  guns.  The 
construction  of  the  vessel  then  ceased  and  it  was 
never  completed. 

From  the  time  of  Fulton,  the  progress  of  steam- 
navigation  on  the  rivers  of  the  United  States  was 
rapid.  The  "Phoenix"  of  Stevens  opened  the  Del- 
aware, and  the  boats  of  Fulton  himself  and  his  suc- 
cessors introduced  the  new  system  of  transportation 
on  the  Connecticut  and  Long  Island  Sound.  The 
venturesome  voyage  of  Roosevelt,  in  1811,  down  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  was  made  on  the  first  of 
the  steam-vessels,  since  numbered  by  thousands,  on 
the  western  waters.  His  boat,  the  "  New  Orleans," 
ran  for  years  between  the  city  of  that  name  and 
Natchez.  The  "Enterprise,"  in  1814,  took  part  in 
the  defence  of  New  Orleans  by  General  Jackson,  and 
afterward  ascended  the  "  Father  of  Waters,"  reaching 
Louisville  in  twenty-five  days  from  New  Orleans.  A 
quarter  of  a  century  later  the  trip  was  made  in  less 
than  a  week;  and  in  1850,  four  days  was  considered 
good  time  for  the  same  voyage. 

By  the  year  1860  there  were  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  steamboats  on  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi and  their  tributaries,  some  of  which  made  twenty 
miles  an  hour  or  more.  All  were  paddle-boats,  and 
usually  stern  -  wheelers,  —  that  type  of  vessel  being 
found  more  manageable  on  those  rivers,  —  although 


156  ROBERT  FULTON. 

the  side-wheeler  became  the  only  form  of  steamboat 
on  the  rivers  and  sounds  of  the  coast  for  many  years, 
and  until  the  advent  of  the  screw. 

The  growth  of  steam-navigation  in  Great  Britain 
was  less  rapid  than  in  the  United  States  j  but  as  early 
as  1815,  about  the  time  of  Fulton's  death,  there  were 
ten  steamers  on  the  Clyde,  and  seven  or  eight  on 
the  Thames.  The  "Argyle"  was  the  first  sea-going 
steamer  built  in  British  waters.  This  vessel  made  a 
voyage  from  the  Clyde,  where  she  was  built,  to  Lon- 
don, where  she  was  to  be  employed,  after  a  year  of 
service  between  Glasgow  and  Greenock.  The  voyage 
was  made  in  about  a  month,  in  a  stormy  season,  and 
the  Thames  was  safely  reached,  the  vessel  then  en- 
tering upon  her  regular  scheduled  trips  between  Lon- 
don and  Margate.  In  1816  the  steamer  "  Majestic," 
built  at  Ramsgate  for  the  purpose,  made  her  first  trips 
between  Brighton  and  Havre,  and  from  Dover  to 
Calais.  It  was  in  this  year  that  Captain  Bunker,  who 
had  served  on  the  "  Phoenix,"  was  given  command  ol 
the  steamer  "  Connecticut,"  and  established  the  first 
line  of  boats  on  Long  Island  Sound,  between  New 
York  and  New  Haven  and  New  London.  From  this 
date  on,  British  steamers  began  to  appear  in  all  the 
principal  harbours  of  Great  Britain,  and  lines  to 
Ireland  and  to  the  French  and  Dutch  coasts  were 
rapidly  created. 

Progress  continued  to  be  most  rapid  in  the  United 
States,  however.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  made  his  first 
venture  in  the  "Bolona,"  built  by  Lawrence  in  1817  ; 
and  the  fortunes  of  that  family  and  the  steam-navi- 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       157 

gation  of  the  Hudson  and  of  the  sounds  adjacent 
flourished  together.  The  trip  to  Providence  from 
New  York  was  made,  in  those  days,  in  about  twenty 
hours,  and  the  price  paid  was  ten  dollars,  including 
berths  and  meals. 

About  1821  Robert  L.  Thurston,  John  Babcock, 
and  Capt.  Stephen  T.  Northam,  of  Newport,  R.  I., 
commenced  building  steamboats,  beginning  with  a 
small  craft  intended  for  use  at  Slade's  Ferry,  near 
Fall  River.  They  afterward  built  vessels  to  ply  on 
Long  Island  Sound.  One  of  the  earliest  was  the 
"  Babcock,"  built  at  Newport  in -1826.  The  engine 
was  built  by  Thurston  and  Babcock,  at  Portsmouth, 
R.  I.  They  were  assisted  in  their  work  by  Richard 
Sanford,  and  with  funds  by  Northam.  The  engine 
was  of  twelve  inches  diameter  of  cylinder,  and  four 
feet  stroke  of  piston.  The  boiler  was  a  form  of 
"pipe-boiler,"  patented  (1824)  by  Babcock.  The 
water  used  was  injected  into  the  hot  boiler  as  fast  as 
required  to  furnish  steam,  no  water  being  retained 
in  the  steam-generator.  This  boat  was  succeeded,  in 
1827-1828,  by  a  larger  vessel,  —  the  "  Rushlight,"  — 
for  which  the  engine  was  built  by  James  P.  Allaire,  at 
New  York,  while  the  boat  was  built  at  Newport.  The 
boilers  of  both  vessels  had  tubes  of  cast-iron.  The 
smaller  of  these  boats  was  of  eighty  tons  burden.  It 
steamed  from  Newport  to  Providence,  30  miles,  in 
3!  hours,  and  to  New  York,  a  distance  of  1 75  miles, 
in  25  hours,  using  if  cords  of  wood.1  Thurston  and 
Babcock  removed  to  Providence,  where  the  latter 
died.  Thurston  continued  to  build  steam-engines 
1  History  of  the  Growth  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  281. 


158  ROBERT  FULTON. 

there  nearly  a  half-century,  dying  in  1874.  The 
establishment  founded  by  him,  after  various  changes, 
became  the  present  Providence  Steam-Engine  Works. 
This  "  pipe-boiler  "  was  intended,  as  was  the  earlier 
construction  of  the  elder  Stevens,  for  high  pressures, 
which  now  came  into  use.  As  early  as  1817,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  Seth  Hunt  before  a  parliamentary 
committee  in  England,  Oliver  Evans  had  successfully 
carried  pressures  of  one  hundred  and  forty  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty  pounds  of  steam ;  and  now  James 
P.  Allaire,  of  New  York,  started  on  the  same  line  of 
improvement  in  economy.  Watt  had  showed,  both  by 
his  logical  deduction,  exemplified  in  his  patent  of  1 769, 
and  by  actual  construction  of  engines  some  years  later, 
that  the  expansive  action  of  steam  was  an  available 
source  of  economy,  and  had  beaten  Hornblower,  whose 
compound  engine  was  expressly  constructed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  that  advantage.  Allaire  used  the  com- 
pound engine,  with  steam  at  a  pressure  of  one  hundred 
pounds  and  upward,  in  1825,  for  the  first  time  in  steam- 
navigation.  The  first  of  his  vessels  of  this  class  was  the 
"Henry  Eckford,"  and  this  was  succeeded  by  others, 
one  of  which,  the  "  Sun,"  made  the  run  from  New  York 
to  Albany  in  twelve  hours,  eighteen  minutes.  Erastus 
W.  Smith  afterward  introduced  the  compound  engine 
on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  they  were  still  later  intro- 
duced into  British  steamers  by  John  Elder  and  his 
partners.  The  machinery  of  the  steamer  "  Buckeye 
State  "  was  constructed  at  the  Allaire  Works,  New  York, 
in  1850,  from  the  designs  of  John  Baird  and  Smith, 
the  latter  being  the  designing  and  constructing  engi- 
neer. The  steamer  was  placed  on  the  route  between 


RIVER  AND    OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       159 

Buffalo,  Cleveland,  and  Detroit,  in  1851,  with  most 
satisfactory  results,  consuming  less  than  two  thirds  the 
fuel  required  by  a  similar  vessel  fitted  with  the  single- 
cylinder  engine.  The  steam-cylinders  were  placed 
one  within  the  other,  the  low-pressure  exterior  cylinder 
being  annular.  They  were  37  and  80  inches  in  diam- 
eter, respectively,  with  a  piston-stroke  of  n  feet. 
Both  pistons  were  connected  to  one  cross-head,  and 
the  arrangement  of  the  engine  was  that  of  the  common 
beam-engine.  The  steam-pressure  was  seventy  to 
seventy-five  pounds,  —  about  the  maximum  pressure 
adopted  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  on  trans-Atlantic 
lines. 

The  French  engineers  were  but  little  behind  their 
American  rivals  in  this  race,  and  built  a  steamboat 
with  compound  engines,  in  1829,  called  the  "Union," 
from  the  plans  of  M.  Hallette,  of  Arras.  Steam  was 
carried  at  sixty-five  to  seventy  pounds  pressure. 

As  illustrating  the  latest  form  of  the  lineal  succes- 
sor of  Fulton's  "  Clermont,"  we  may  take  the  Hudson 
River  steamer  "  New  York,"  plying  on  the  same 
route.  The  hull  of  this  vessel  was  built  at  Wilmington, 
Del.,  by  The  Harlan  and  Hollingsworth  Co.,  of  iron 
throughout.  The  dimensions  are  as  follows  : 

Length  on  the  water-line      .     .  301  feet. 

Length  over  all  .  .  'v  • , .  \  311  " 
Breadth  of  beam,  moulded  .  .  40  " 
Breadth  of  beam,  over  guards  74  " 

Depth,   moulded  % 12  "    3  ins. 

Draft  of  water        6  " 

Tonnage  (net,  1091.89)       .     1552.52 


i6o 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       161 

The  machinery  was  built  by  the  W.  &  A.  Fletcher 
Company,  North  River  Iron  Works.  The  engine  is 
a  standard  American  beam-engine,  with  a  cylinder 
seventy-five  inches  diameter  and  twelve  feet  stroke  of 
piston,  with  Stevens's  cut-off.  The  use  of  a  surface 
condenser,  instead  of  a  jet  condenser,  in  this  river 
steamer,  is  a  change  made  to  overcome  the  evil  of 
using  mixed  salt  and  fresh  water  in  the  boilers. 

Another  is  the  adoption  of  "  feathering- wheels  " 
instead  of  the  radial  wheels,  with  fixed  buckets  or 
floats.  These  wheels  are  30  feet  2  inches  diameter 
outside  of  buckets.  There  are  twelve  curved  steel 
buckets  to  each  wheel.  Each  bucket  is  3  feet  9 
inches  wide  and  12  feet  6  inches  long,  with  an  angle 
iron  3x5  inches  on  each  end.  The  wheels  are  over- 
hung, or  have  a  bearing  outboard  on  the  hull  only. 
The  feathering  is  done  in  the  usual  manner  by  means 
of  driving  and  radius  bars,  operated  by  a  centre  placed 
eccentric  to  the  shaft  and  held  by  the  A  frame  on  the 
guard.  They  were  introduced  in  the  "  New  York  " 
for  the  purpose  of  gaining  speed,  and  the  trial- 
trips  show  that  the  builders'  expectations  were  not 
groundless. 

Absence  of  jar  is  another  great  gain  obtained  by 
the  use  of  these  wheels,  and  the  comparatively  thin 
buckets  enter  the  water  so  smoothly  that  the  boat  is 
without  the  shake  so  common  with  the  ordinary 
wheels. 

Steam  is  supplied  to  the  engine  by  three  return  flue- 
boilers,  each  9^  feet  diameter  of  shell,  n  feet  width 
of  front,  and  33  feet  long.  These  boilers  are  con- 


162  ROBERT  FULTON. 

structed  for  a  working  pressure  of  fifty  pounds  per 
square  inch.  Each  boiler  has  a  grate  surface  of  76 
square  feet,  or  228  square  feet  in  all,  and  with  the 
forced  draught  produce  3,850  horse-power. 

Another  measure  of  safety  is  the  steam  steerer, 
which  has  been  put  on  so  that  the  boat  can  be 
handled  with  the  quick  and  easy  precision  due  to  this 
improvement. 

The  exterior  is,  as  usual  in  this  class  of  steamers, 
of  pine  painted  white,  relieved  with  tints  and  gold. 
The  interior  is  finished  in  cabinet  work,  and  is  all 
hard  wood,  —  ash  being  used  forward  of  the  shaft  on 
the  main  deck  and  mahogany  aft  and  in  the  dining- 
cabin. 

The  construction  of  steamers  of  recent  design  for 
lake  and  sound  routes,  as  between  New  York  and 
New  England,  on  Long  Island  Sound,  is  exemplified 
by  that  of  the  "  Puritan." 

"  The  '  Puritan  '  has  principal  dimensions  as  follows  : 
Length,  over  all,  420  feet ;  length  on  the  water-line, 
404  feet;  width  of  hull,  52  feet;  extreme  breadth 
over  guards,  9 1  feet ;  depth  of  hull  amidships,  2 1 
feet,  6  inches ;  height  of  dome  from  base-line,  63 
feet ;  whole  depth,  from  base-line  to  top  of  house 
over  the  engine,  70  feet.  Her  total  displacement  is 
4,150  tons,  and  her  gross  tonnage  4,650  tons. 

"  The  '  Puritan '  is  fireproof  and  unsinkable,  has  a 
double  hull  divided  into  fifty-nine  water-tight  compart- 
ments. In  the  fastenings  of  her  steel  hulls  and  com- 
partments, there  have  been  used  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand rivets.  Her  decks  are  of  steel,  wood  covered. 


RIVER  AND   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.       163 


c 

3 

OH 


H 

I 


1 64  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Her  masts  are  of  steel,  and  hollow,  to  serve  as  venti- 
lators, and  are  twenty-two  inches  in  diameter.  Her 
paddle-wheels  are  encased  in  steel. 

"  The  <  Puritan's '  hull  is  made  of  <  mild  steel,' 
which  metal,  weight  for  weight,  is  some  twenty  per 
cent  stronger  than  iron,  with  twenty-five  per  cent  re- 
duction of  area,  according  to  the  best  Government 
test.  "  Her  wheels  are  of  steel,  and  are  35  feet  in 
diameter  outside  the  buckets.  The  buckets  are  14 
feet  long  and  5  feet  wide,  each  bucket  of  steel  | 
inch  thick,  and  weighing  2,800  pounds  without  rock- 
ing-arms  and  brackets  attached.  The  total  weight  of 
each  wheel  is  100  tons.  "She  has  eight  steel  boilers 
of  the  Redfield  return  tubular  type,  and  the  maxi- 
mum working  pressure  is  one  hundred  and  ten 
pounds  to  the  square  inch.  This  fact  illustrates  the 
great  advances  made  since  the  days  of  Fulton  in  the 
safe  employment  of  high-pressure  steam ;  and  the 
standard  construction  continually  tends  toward  still 
higher  tension. 

"  The  '  Puritan  '  has  a  compound,  vertical  beam, 
surface-condensing  engine  of  7,500  horse-power.  The 
high-pressure  cylinder  is  75  inches  in  diameter,  and 
9  feet  stroke  of  piston.  The  low-pressure  cylinder  is 
no  inches  in  diameter,  and  14  feet  stroke  of  piston. 
A  horse  and  wagon  could  be  driven  through  this  cyl- 
inder if  laid  on  its  side.  The  surface  condenser  has 
15,000  square  feet  of  cooling  surface  and  weighs  53 
tons.  Of  condenser  tubes  of  brass  there  are  14% 
miles  in  the  *  Puritan.'  Her  working  beam  is  the 
largest  ever  made,  being  34  feet  in  length  from 


RIVER  AATD   OCEAN  STEAM-FLEETS.      165 

centre  to  centre,  17  feet  wide,  and  weighing  42 
tons.  When  it  is  considered  that  the  section  of 
beam-strap  measures  9^  x  1 1 J  inches,  one  may  get 
an  idea  of  the  enormous  strain  and  the  strength 
of  resistance  of  this  beam.  The  main  centre  of  the 
beam  is  19  inches  in  diameter  in  bearing.  The  shafts 
are  27  inches  in  diameter  in  main  bearing,  and  30 
inches  in  gunwale  bearing,  and  are  the  largest  ever 
made  in  this  country.  They  weigh  40  tons  each. 
The  cranks  weigh  9  tons  each.  The  crank-pin  is 
enormous,  the  bearing  being  10  inches  in  diameter 
and  22  inches  long. 

"  There  are  two  centrifugal  circulating  pumps,  each 
capable  of  throwing  ten  thousand  gallons  per  minute. 
Besides  these  there  are  three  other  large  pumps,  with  a 
combined  capacity  of  two  thousand  gallons  per  minute. 
Novel  features  are  the  three  steam  capstans,  —  one  for- 
ward and  one  on  each  quarter,  —  to  be  used  in  docking 
the  boat ;  each  capstan  has  a  double  cylinder  engine, 
each  cylinder  twelve  inches  in  diameter  and  fourteen 
inches  stroke.  She  has  two  Sturtevant  blowers,  furnish- 
ing fresh  air  for  fire-room,  each  capable  of  fifty  thou- 
sand feet  per  minute.  She  will  burn  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  coal  on  the  trip  from 
New  York  to  Fall  River  and  back. 

"  From  stem  to  stern,  and  in  every  nook  and  cor- 
ner of  the  ship,  the  electric  wire  is  to  be  found.  In 
all,  there  are  twelve  miles  of  this  wire ;  and  including 
annunciators,  fire-alarm,  etc.,  there  are  twenty  miles 
of  wire  on  the  ship,  and  twelve  thousand  feet  of  steam 
pipe.  There  are  capacious  gangways,  grand  and  im- 


1 66  ROBERT  FULTON. 

posing  staircases  heavy  with  brass  and  mahogany, 
lofty  cornices,  and  ceilings  supported  by  tasteful  pi- 
lasters, the  tapering  columns  of  which,  in  relief,  flank 
exquisitely  tinted  panelling  throughout  the  length  of 
her  grand  and  minor  saloons.  And  over  all  this  ar- 
tistic work  and  exuberant  colouring,  the  incandescent 
electric  light  sheds  its  soft  rays.  Every  convenience 
known  to  civilization,  and  which  can  contribute  to 
the  ease  and  comfort  of  the  traveller  on  land  or  when 
afloat,  is  included  in  the  internal  arrangements  of  this 
floating  caravansary.  The  artistic  and  luxuriant  sense 
of  the  beholder  is  also  abundantly  appealed  to.  The 
'  Puritan '  has  in  all,  three  hundred  and  sixty-four 
staterooms. 

"  Some  idea  of  the  immense  amount  of  finish  in  the 
different  departments  may  be  obtained  when  it  is 
understood  that  in  the  gilding  alone  185,000  gold 
leaves,  each  3§  inches  square,  were  used.  In  paint- 
ing the  ship  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  of 
lead  were  expended."  1 

1    Fall  River  Line  Gazette. 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  167 


VIII. 

OCEAN   STEAMERS. THE   OUTLOOK. 

STEAM- NAVIGATION  on  the  ocean  had  a  real  begin- 
ning about  1 840,  and  this  may  be  taken  as  the  period 
of  introduction  of  the  screw-propeller,  —  two  events 
of  supreme  importance  in  the  history  of  the  art  which 
the  work  of  Fulton  had  so  effectively  promoted.  Ten- 
tatively, the  steam-navigation  of  the  ocean  had  begun 
but  little  later  than  the  navigation  of  the  rivers  and 
harbours  of  the  United  States.  The  ocean  voyage  of 
Robert  L.  Stevens  was  soon  followed  by  those  of  Bell 
and  Dodd  in  Great  Britain;  and  by  1815  it  was 
recognized  as  a  possibility  that  long  voyages  might  be 
undertaken  by  larger  vessels.  The  first  transatlantic 
voyage  was  made  by  the  "Savannah,"  in  1819,  partly 
by  steam,  in  part  by  sail.  This  ship  is  now  famous 
as  the  pioneer  in  this  great  traffic.  The  following 
description  has  been  elsewhere  given  by  the  Author : l 

The  "Savannah"  measured  three  hundred  and  fifty 
tons,  and  was  constructed  by  Crocker  &  Fickett,  at 
Corlear's  Hook,  N.  Y.  She  was  purchased  by  Mr. 
Scarborough,  of  Savannah,  who  placed  Captain  Moses 
Rogers,  previously  in  command  of  the  "  Clermont " 

1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  285,  et  seq. 


i68 


ROBERT  FULTON, 


I 


CUD 
E 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  169 

and  of  Stevens's  boat,  the  "  Phoenix,"  in  charge.  The 
ship  was  fitted  with  steam  machinery  and  paddle-wheels, 
and  sailed  for  Savannah,  April  27,  1819,  making  the 
voyage  successfully  in  seven  days.  From  Savannah, 
the  vessel  sailed  for  Liverpool,  May  26,  and  arrived 
at  that  port  June  20.  During  this  trip  the  engines 
were  used  eighteen  days,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
voyage  was  made  under  sail.  From  Liverpool  the 
"  Savannah  "  sailed,  July  23,  for  the  Baltic,  touching 
at  Copenhagen,  Stockholm,  St.  Petersburg,  and  other 
ports.  At  St.  Petersburg,  Lord  Lyndock,  who  had 
been  a  passenger,  was  landed ;  and  on  taking  leave 
of  the  commander  of  the  steamer  the  distinguished 
guest  presented  him  with  a  silver  tea-kettle,  suitably 
inscribed  with  a  legend  referring  to  the  importance  of 
the  event  which  afforded  him  this  opportunity.  The 
"  Savannah  "  left  St.  Petersburg  in  November,  passing 
New  York  December  9,  and  reaching  Savannah  in 
fifty  days  from  the  date  of  departure,  stopping  four 
days  at  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  and  an  equal  length 
of  time  at  Arundel,  Norway.  Several  severe  gales 
were  met  in  the  Atlantic,  but  no  serious  injury  was 
done  to  the  ship. 

The  "  Savannah "  was  a  full-rigged  ship.  The 
wheels  were  turned  by  an  inclined  direct-acting  low- 
pressure  engine,  having  a  steam- cylinder  forty  inches 
in  diameter  and  six  feet  stroke  of  piston.  The 
paddle-wheels  were  of  wrought- iron,  and  were  so 
arranged  that  they  could  be  detached  and  hoisted  on 
board  when  found  advisable.  After  the  return  of  the 
ship  to  the  United  States  the  machinery  was  removed, 


T  70  ROBER  T  FUL  TON. 

and  was  sold  to  the  Allaire  Works,  of  New  York. 
The  steam-cylinder  was  exhibited  by  the  purchasers 
at  the  World's  Fair  at  New  York,  thirty  years  later. 
The  vessel  was  employed  as  a  sailing-vessel  on  a  line 
between  New  York  and  Savannah,  and  was  finally 
lost  in  the  year  1822. 

Later,  the  "  Enterprise  "  made  a  voyage  (1825)  to 
India,  under  steam  and  sail  as  the  weather  and  circum- 
stances permitted ;  and  still  other  vessels  were  built, 
using  "  auxiliary  "  engines,  as  they  were  called ;  but 
even  as  late  as  1838  there  were  grave  doubts  expressed 
by  eminent  authorities  of  the  feasibility  of  making  long 
voyages  by  steam  alone.  These  doubts  were,  however, 
set  at  rest  in  that  year  by  the  crossing  of  the  Atlantic  by 
two  steamers  almost  simultaneously,  —  the  "Sirius" 
and  the  "  Great  Western."  The  latter  was  a  large 
vessel  for  those  days,  and  nearly  double  the  size  and 
power  of  the  other.  The  "  Great  Western "  was  of 
1,350  tons  burden  and  450  horse-power ;  the  "  Sirius  " 
was  of  700  tons  and  250  horse-power 

The  "  Sirius  "  sailed  from  Cork  on  the  4th  and  the 
"Great  Western"  from  Bristol  on  the  8th  of  April, 
both  arriving  in  New  York  on  the  same  day,  —  April 
23,  1838,  —  the  one  in  the  morning,  the  other  in  the 
afternoon.  These  vessels  were  placed  on  the  route 
in  the  interests,  respectively,  of  the  British  and  Ameri- 
can Steam  Navigation  Co.,  and  of  the  Great  West- 
ern Railway  of  Great  Britain.  Both  ships  returned 
safely,  making  good  time ;  and  the  larger  was  kept 
on  the  line  for  some  years,  making  many  successful 
voyages.  The  other  craft  was  deemed  too  small 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  171 

for  the  route  and  was  taken  off  and  placed  on  a  line 
between  Dublin  and  Cork.  Other  ships  were  soon 
built  for  this  trade,  and  the  transoceanic  lines  were 
gradually  established,  never  again  to  be  given  up.  As 
may  well  be  imagined,  the  appearance  of  the  two 
pioneers  in  New  York  harbour  was  a  most  impressive 
event,  and  awakened  the  greatest  enthusiasm  on  both 
sides  the  Atlantic.  The  formation  of  the  still-existing 


Fig.  20.  —  The  "  Pacific,"  1851. 

Cunard  Line  immediately  followed;  its  first  vessel, 
the  "  Britannia,",  sailing  for  New  York  on  the  4th  of 
July,  1840.  Three  sister  ships  followed;  and  the  four 
steamers  continued  in  service  until  the  success  of  the 
enterprise  was  so  far  assured  as  to  justify  the  building 
of  larger  and  more  powerful  vessels.  These  four  ships 
had  an  aggregate  of  about  forty-six  hundred  tons  bur- 
den, —  about  one  half  the  tonnage  of  single  vessels 
now  on  transatlantic  lines.  These  vessels  and  the  ships 
of  the  first  large  American  company,  the  Collins  Line, 


I?2  ROBERT  FULTOAT. 

organized  about  1850,  were  all  paddle-steamers  with 
side- lever  engines,  like  that  illustrated  in  figure  21. 
They  were  first  built,  it  is  said,  by  Messrs.  Maudsley, 
Sons,  &  Field,  about  1835  >  but  that  here  illustrated 
was  designed  by  Mr.  Charles  Copeland,  of  New  York, 
for  the  "  Pacific,"  one  of  the  Collins  steamers. 


Fig.  21.  —  The  Side-Lever  Engine,  1849. 

This  steamer  was  built  at  New  York,  —  the  hull  by 
William  Brown,  and  the  machinery  by  the  Novelty 
Iron  Works.  The  length  of  the  hull  was  276  feet, 
its  breadth  45  feet,  and  the  depth  of  hold  31^  feet. 
The  width  over  the  paddle-boxes  was  75  feet.  The 
ship  measured  2,860  tons.  The  form  of  the  hull 
was  such  as  best  adapted  the  ship  for  high  speed. 
The  main  "  saloon  "  was  about  70  feet  long,  and  the 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  173 

dining-room  was  60  feet  in  length  and  twenty  feet 
wide.  The  staterooms  accommodated  150  passen- 
gers. These  vessels  inaugurated  our  present  wonder- 
ful system  of  passenger-transportation.1  The  engines 
were  of  the  side-lever  type,  as  illustrated  in  Figure  2 1 . 

In  this  engine  the  piston-rod  was  attached  to  a 
cross-head,  from  which,  at  each  side,  links  B  C,  con- 
nected with  the  side-lever,  D  E  F.  The  latter 
vibrated  about  a  main  centre  at  E ;  from  its  other 
end  a  connecting-rod,  H,  led  to  the  cross-tail,  W, 
connected  to  the  crank-pin,  /.  The  condenser,  M9 
and  air-pump,  Q,  were  between  the  cylinder,  A,  and 
the  crank,  IJ. 

The  Collins  Line  proved  a  failure ;  but  it  was  very 
largely  a  consequence  of  a  series  of  misfortunes,  for 
which  neither  the  management  nor  the  officers  of  the 
ships  were  held  accountable.  Ship  after  ship  was  lost, 
and  the  costs  of  operation  in  competition  with  the 
British  lines,  which  were  subject  to  far  less  expense, 
proved  to  be  unexpectedly  large.  It  is  also  probable 
that  the  general  introduction  of  the  screw,  after  these 
ships  had  been  built  as  paddle-steamers,  had  some- 
thing, perhaps  much,  to  do  with  the  final  breaking 
down  of  so  expensive  and  burdensome  a  line.  The 
screw-propeller  had  by  this  time  become  an  unde- 
niable success  in  competition  with  the  paddle  in  ocean 
steaming;  and  screw- vessels  now  rapidly  displaced 
those  propelled  by  paddle-wheels. 

The  screw-propeller,  proposed  by  Bernouilli  and  by 
Watt,  used  successfully  by  Fitch  and  by  Stevens  and 
1  History  of  the  S  team-Engine,  p.  290. 


174  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Smith,  and  a  little  later  (1812)  by  Trevithick,  was 
finally  brought  into  use  for  general  purposes  by  Fran- 
cis Pettit  Smith  in  Great  Britain,  and  by  John  Erics- 
son in  the  United  States,  after  the  latter  had  made  an 
experimental  success  but  a  commercial  failure  of  it  in 
England.  Ericsson's  patent  on  his  screw  was  issued 
from  the  British  patent  office  in  1836.  His  boat,  built 
in  that  year,  was  found  to  be  capable  of  doing  good 
work  as  a  "  tug  "  on  the  Thames,  making  ten  miles  an 
hour,  running  free,  and  towing  large  vessels  at  the 
rate  of  five  to  seven  miles  an  hour.  The  British  Ad- 
miralty, with  customary  conservatism,  refused  to  adopt 
Ericsson's  plans,  and  he  was  persuaded  by  Captain 
Stockton,  an  enterprising  American  naval  officer,  to 
go  with  him  to  the  United  States,  and  there  endeavour 
to  interest  the  Navy  Department  in  his  inventions. 
A  screw- vessel,  the  "  Stockton,"  was  accordingly  built 
in  England  and  sent  over  to  the  United  States  in 
1839;  and  Ericsson  followed,  to  build  other  vessels 
for  Stockton  and  his  partners  in  the  venture.  The 
"  Stockton  "  remained  in  service  on  the  Delaware  and 
Raritan  Canal,  under  the  name  of  the  "  New  Jersey," 
for  many  years. 

After  the  departure  of  Ericsson  a  company  was 
formed  in  England  to  work  the  patents  of  Smith ;  and 
this  company  built  the  "  Archimedes,"  the  trial-trip 
being  made  October  14  of  that  year.  This  boat  made 
nearly  ten  miles  an  hour ;  and  the  British  Admiralty 
at  last  began  to  take  some  interest  in  the  subject, 
and  subsequently  adopted  the  screw  for  naval  pur- 
poses. Meantime,  also,  Congress  had  authorized  the 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  I  75 

construction  of  new  vessels,  and  Ericsson  was  allowed 
to  introduce  his  screw  and  his  engines  into  one  of 
them,  —  the  "  Princeton."  This  was  the  first  steamer 
built  for  war  purposes  which  was  fitted  with  a  screw- 
propeller.  She  was  large  for  the  time,  —  about  one 
thousand  tons  displacement,  —  and  all  the  machinery 
was  placed  under  the  water-line  for  the  first  time  also. 

In  reporting  on  the  performance  of  this  ship,  Cap- 
tain Stockton,  who  was  the  first  commander,  recites 
the  advantages  possessed  by  the  steamer  in  conse- 
quence of  the  facts  that  her  machinery  is  out  of  reach 
of  shot ;  that  no  paddles  are  in  sight ;  that  she  has 
clear  decks ;  and  that,  burning  anthracite  coal,  no 
smoke  is  visible ;  he  then  goes  on  to  repeat,  substan- 
tially, the  idea  of  Fulton,  saying,  "  The  improvements 
in  the  art  of  war  effected  on  board  the  '  Princeton ' 
may  be  productive  of  more  important  results  than 
anything  that  has  occurred  since  the  invention  of 
gunpowder.  The  numerical  force  of  other  navies,  so 
long  boasted,  may  be  set  at  naught ;  the  ocean  may 
again  become  neutral  ground ;  and  the  rights  of  the 
smallest,  as  well  as  the  greatest  nations,  may  once 
more  be  respected."  The  hull  of  the  vessel  was 
condemned  in  1849,  and  the  ship  broken  up.  A 
second  hull  was  built,  fitted  with  the  same  ma- 
chinery, and  given  the  same  name,  in  1851,  but  was 
less  satisfactory,  performed  little  service,  and  was  sold 
out  of  the  service  in  1867.  Since  the  days  of  the 
"Princeton,"  all  navies  have  adopted  the  screw- 
propeller,  and  all  naval  fleets  are  steam-fleets. 

The  screw  was  found  to  possess  many  advantages 


176  ROBERT  FULTON. 

over  the  paddle-wheel.  The  cost  of  machinery  was 
greatly  reduced;  the  expense  of  maintenance  in 
working  order  was,  however,  somewhat  increased. 
The  latter  disadvantage  was,  nevertheless,  compen- 
sated by  an  immense  increase  in  the  economy  of 
power  for  ship-propulsion,  which  marked  the  substi- 
tution of  the  new  machinery. 

When  a  ship  is  under  way,  the  motion  of  the  vessel 
creates  a  current  of  water  in  the  direction  in  which 
the  ship  is  moving,  following  the  ship  for  a  time,  and 
finally  losing  all  motion  by  contact  with  the  surround- 
ing mass  of  water.  All  the  power  expended  in  the 
production  of  this  great  stream  is,  in  the  paddle- 
steamer,  lost.  In  screw-steamers,  however,  the  pro- 
pelling instrument  works  in  this  following  current ;  and 
the  tendency  is  to  bring  the  fluid  to  rest,  taking  up, 
and  thus  restoring  usefully,  a  large  part  of  that  energy 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  lost.  The  screw  is 
covered  by  the  water,  and  acts  with  comparative  effi- 
ciency in  consequence  of  its  submersion.  The  rota- 
tion of  the  screw  is  rapid  and%  smooth  also,  and  this 
permits  the  use  of  small,  light,  fast-running  engines. 
The  latter  condition  leads  to  economy  of  weight  and 
space,  and  saves  not  only  the  cost  of  transportation  of 
the  excess  of  weight  of  the  larger  kind  of  engine,  but 
leaving  so  much  more  room  for  cargo,  the  gain  is 
found  to  be  a  double  one.  Still  further  :  the  quick- 
running  engine  is,  other  things  being  equal,  the  most 
economical,  and  thus  expense  is  saved,  not  only  in 
the  purchase  of  fuel,  but  in  its  transportation ;  and 
additional  gain  is  derived  from  the  increased  amount 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  177 

of  paying  cargo  which  the  vessel  is  thus  enabled  to 
carry.1 

Since  the  days  of  Ericsson's  great  success  in  the 
introduction  of  the  screw-propeller  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  steam-fleets,  there  have  been  two  great  im- 
provements in  the  steam-engine,  and  two  important 
changes  in  naval  construction.  The  first  two  are 
the  general  introduction  of  the  surface-condenser, 
and  the  use  of  the  compound  engine  at  sea;  the 
second  two  are  the  building  of  the  iron-clad  fleet, 
and  the  construction  of  Ericsson's  greatest  inven- 
tion, the  "  Monitor."  During  these  fifty  years,  also, 
the  steam-fleets  of  the  merchant  navies  of  the  world 
have  become  enormously  increased  in  numbers,  their 
vessels  have  grown  to  tremendous  size,  and  their 
machinery  has  more  than  proportionally  gained  in 
power,  driving  their  great  hulls  through  the  heaviest 
seas  with  the  speed  of  the  railway  train  on  land. 

The  change  from  the  side-lever  single-cylinder 
engine,  with  jet-condenser  and  paddle-wheels,  to  the 
direct-acting  compound  engine,  with  surface- con- 
denser and  screw-propellers,  has  occurred  within  this 
period.  Builders  slowly  learned  the  principles  gov- 
erning expansion  in  one  or  more  cylinders ;  and  the 
earlier  engines  were  often  made  with  a  high  and  low 
pressure  cylinder  working  on  the  same  rod,  each 
machine  consisting  of  four  steam- cylinders.  It  was 
at  last  discovered  that  a  high-pressure  single-cylinder 
engine  exhausting  into  a  separate  larger  low-pressure 
engine  might  do  as  well,  and  the  compound  engine 
1  History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  p.  297. 

12 


178  ROBERT  FULTON. 

became  as  simple  as  the  type  of  engine  which  it 
displaced. 

The  advantage  of  introducing  such  engines  at  sea 
is  considerably  greater  than  on  land.  The  coal  car- 
ried by  a  steam-vessel  is  not  only  an  item  of  great 
importance  in  consequence  of  its  cost,  but  it  repre- 
sents so  much  non-paying  cargo,  and  is  to  be  charged 
with  the  full  cost  of  transportation  in  addition  to  first 
cost  and  the  loss  of  profit  on  the  freight  that  it  dis- 
places. To  this  saving  of  cost  on  fuel  account,  by 
the  use  of  the  later  type  of  engine,  is  to  be  added  the 
gain  in  wages  and  sustenance  of  the  labour  required 
to  handle  that  coal. 

At  sea,  rise  of  steam-pressure  was  for  a  considerable 
time  retarded  by  the  serious  difficulty  encountered  in 
the  tendency  of  the  sulphate  of  lime  to  deposit  from 
the  sea-water  in  the  boiler.  When  steam-pressure 
had  risen  to  twenty-five  pounds  per  square  inch,  it  was 
found  that  no  amount  of  "  blowing  out "  would  pre- 
vent the  deposition  of  seriously  large  quantities  of  this 
salt.  The  introduction  of  surface-condensation  was 
attempted  as  the  remedy  for  this  evil,  but  it  was  long 
doubtful  whether  its  disadvantages  were  not  greater 
than  its  advantages.  It  was  found  difficult  to  keep 
the  condensers  tight ;  and  boilers  were  injured  by 
corrosion,  evidently  due  to  the  presence  of  the  sur- 
face-condenser. The  simple  expedient  of  permitting 
a  thin  scale  to  form  in  the  boiler  was,  after  a  time,  hit 
upon  as  a  means  of  overcoming  this  difficulty.  Once 
introduced,  the  surface-condenser  removed  the  ob- 
stacle to  further  elevation  of  steam-pressure,  and  the 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  179 

rise  from  twenty  to  sixty  pounds  pressure,  and  more, 
soon  occurred.  John  Elder  and  his  competitors 
on  the  Clyde  were  the  first  to  take  advantage  of 
the  fact  when  these  higher  pressures  became  prac- 
ticable. 

Extreme  lightness  in  modern  machinery  has  been 
largely  the  result  of  skilful  designing,  of  intelligent 
construction,  and  of  care  in  the  selection  of  material. 
To-day,  the  engines  of  heavy  iron-clads  are  models 
of  good  proportions,  excellence  in  materials,  and  of 
workmanship.  The  weight  per  indicated  horse-power 
has  been  reduced  from  400  or  500  pounds  to  a  frac- 
tion of  that  amount.  This  has  been  accomplished  by 
forcing  the  boilers,  by  higher  steam-pressure,  higher 
piston-speed,  reduction  of  friction  of  parts,  reduction 
of  capacity  for  coal-stowage,  and  careful  propor- 
tioning. The  reduction  of  coal-capacity  is  compen- 
sated by  increase  of  economy  secured  by  high  pressure, 
by  increased  expansion,  elevation  of  piston-speed, 
and  the  introduction  of  the  compound  engine  with 
surface-condensation. 

A  good  marine  steam-engine  of  the  form  consid- 
ered standard  about  1860,  having  low-pressure  boilers 
carrying  steam  at  20  or  25  pounds  pressure,  expanding 
twice  or  three  times,  and  with  a  jet-condenser,  would 
require  about  30  or  35  pounds  of  feed-water  per 
horse-power  per  hour ;  substituting  surface-conden- 
sation brought  down  the  weight  of  steam  used  to 
from  25  to  30  pounds.  Increasing  steam-pressure  to 
60  pounds,  expanding  from  five  to  eight  times,  and 
combining  the  special  advantages  of  the  superheater 


i8o  ROBERT  FULTON. 

and  the  compound  engine  with  surface-condensation 
reduced  the  consumption  of  steam  to  20,  and  with 
100  to  150  pounds  pressure  in  the  "  triple-expansion  " 
engine,  in  some  cases  to  15  pounds  of  steam  per 
horse-power  per  hour. 

The  next  engraving  illustrates  the  modern  com- 
pound engine.  Here,  the  cranks  KZare  coupled  at 
an  angle  of  ninety  degrees,  only  two  cylinders,  A  B, 
being  used ;  and  an  awkward  distribution  of  pressure 
is  avoided  by  having  a  considerable  volume  of  steam- 
pipe,  or  by  a  steam-reservoir,  O  P,  between  the  two 
cylinders.  The  valves,  y  y,  are  set  like  those  of 
an  ordinary  engine,  the  peculiarity  being  that  the 
steam  exhausted  by  the  one  cylinder,  A,  is  used  again 
in  the  second  and  larger  one,  B.  In  this  combination, 
the  expansion  is  generally  carried  to  about  six  times, 
the  pressure  of  steam  in  the  boiler  being  usually  be- 
tween sixty  and  seventy-five  pounds  per  square  inch. 

The  latest  form  of  marine  engine  is  the  "  quadruple- 
expansion  "  engine,  in  which  the  steam,  taken  from 
boilers  carrying  a  pressure  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred  pounds  per  square  inch,  is  worked 
through  a  series  of  steam-cylinders,  expanding  con- 
tinually to  lower  pressures  as  it  goes,  until  it  is  finally 
discharged  into  the  condenser  at  a  pressure  far  below 
that  of  the  atmosphere,  all  its  energy  converted,  so  far 
as  the  laws  of  nature  allow,  into  working  power. 
Thus  expanding  the  steam  to  sixteen  or  twenty  times 
its  original  volume,  each  of  the  four  elements  of  the 
engine  doing  its  share  of  the  work,  this  machine  is 
found  capable  of  vastly  more  effective  use  of  steam 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  181 

than  the  older  types  of  engine,  in  which  the  wastes 
within  the  cylinders  were  increased  with  increasing 
expansion  in  far  higher  proportion  than  the  gain  by 
expansion  itself.  In  the  various  compound  engines, 
the  wastes  of  one  steam-cylinder  are  utilized  more  or 
less  completely  in  the  next,  thus  making  the  total 
waste  approximately,  for  the  series,  only  that  of  one 
of  its  cylinders.  Otherwise  stated,  the  physical  wastes 
of  heat  and  steam  in  the  "  multiple-cylinder "  en- 
gine of  extreme  expansion  is  approximately  that  only 
of  a  single  cylinder,  with  a  fraction  of  that  degree  of 
expansion.  This  is,  in  simple  terms,  the  secret  of 
the  gain  by  the  use  of  the  compound  engine.  This 
change  of  type  has  been  slowly  going  on,  both  on 
land  and  sea,  ever  since  the  time  of  Watt,  whose  con- 
temporary and  rival,  Hornblower,  first  endeavoured 
to  introduce  the  now  standard  system.  It  has  now 
so  far  progressed  that  the  marine  engine  demands 
only  from  one  and  a  quarter  to  one  and  a  half  pounds 
of  fuel  of  good  quality  per  horse-power  and  per  hour. 
In  special  instances,  on  land,  where  the  conditions 
of  operation  could  be  made  exceptionally  favourable, 
the  economy  of  the  engine  is  claimed  to  have  been 
made  even  greater.  Even  the  locomotive  engine  is 
now  in  process  of  conversion  into  a  compound  engine, 
with  good  results  in  many  cases. 

As  the  compound  engine  revolutionized  the  meth- 
ods and  results  of  the  work  of  the  engineer  in  steam- 
navigation,  so  the  entrance  of  the  modern  iron-clad 
upon  the  scene,  about  the  middle  of  the  century, 
revolutionized  many  of  the  methods  and  the  results 


182 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


rt 

s 


p, 

fi 

o 
U 


-§ 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  183 

of  naval  contests.  The  idea  was  by  no  means  new ; 
but  like  all  great  inventions,  time  had  been  required 
for  it  to  become  matured,  and  especially  for  the  world 
to  make  ready  for  it.  The  Stevens  Battery  was  prob- 
ably the  first  real  armoured  war-vessel  proposed  and 
planned,  and  actually  placed  on  the  stocks ;  but  the 
first  use  of  the  iron-clad  of  which  we  have  authentic 
knowledge  was  during  the  Crimean  War,  when  the 
French  and  English  fleet  was  reinforced  by  a  few 
iron-clad  craft,  small  and  rude,  crude  in  design  and 
thin  of  plating,  but  which  were  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  probability  that  such  vessels  might  find  place  in 
modern  fleets.  To-day  all  fighting  ships  are  plated, 
and  their  dimensions  have  increased,  and  the  thick- 
ness of  their  armour  has  been  made  correspondingly 
greater,  until  they  are  now  the  largest  of  ships,  and 
their  plating  withstands  the  shock  of  guns  throwing 
shot  weighing  many  hundred  pounds,  with  a  velocity  of 
nearly  a  half-mile  in  a  second  ;  but  they  are  neverthe- 
less still  vulnerable  when  attacked  by  Fulton's  method 
of  submarine  warfare  with  torpedoes. 

Modern  fleets  include,  in  some  countries,  part  of 
the  more  efficient  and  the  larger  merchant- vessels  ; 
and  in  Great  Britain  all  the  largest  and  fastest  trans- 
oceanic ships  are  retained,  under  the  laws  of  the 
naval  code,  for  use  by  the  Government  in  time  of  war, 
thus  making  an  enormous  and  important  addition  to 
the  unarmoured  fleet.  Lloyd's  Register  of  Shipping 
of  the  "  War-ships  of  the  World,"  for  1890,  gives  sta- 
tistical and  other  information  regarding  all  navies, 
which  will  be  interesting  in  this  connection :  — 


184 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


Britain. 

United 
States. 

France. 

Ger- 
many. 

Italy. 

Russia. 

Number  of  first-class  armour- 

clads  (iS-in.  armour  and 

above)   

Other     sea-going     armour- 

19 

*3 

10 

7 

clads      .... 

Cruisers  and  sloops  (above 

4i 

27 

ID 

1  1 

*7 

900  tons)     
Gun  vessels  (over  Coo  tons) 

166 
47 

47 
3 

63 
11 

35 
4 

22 

J7 

32 
4 

Gunboats  (over  200  tons)     . 

Si 

2 

37 

JO 

22 

M 

War-vessels  over  14  knots  . 

169 

19 

75 

44 

55 

23 

Merchant    ships    to    each 

cruiser  or  sloop   .... 

39 

9 

8 

21 

10 

7 

Merchant  tonnage  to  each 

cruiser  or  sloop  .... 
Merchant  ships  to  each  war- 

49,000 

11,000 

13,000 

26,500 

13,600 

5,000 

8 

/ 

A/ 

4 

The  speeds  of  the  several  classes  of  war-vessels  are 
as  follows  :  — 


Britain. 

France. 

Germany. 

Italy. 

Total,  including 
other  Nations 

Over  20  knots  : 

Number  .... 

5° 

5 

2 

17 

94 

Tons  displacement 

i35>9oo 

24,280 

640 

12,390 

238,663 

Number  of  guns  . 

290 

48 

16 

3jo 

Over  19  knots: 

Number. 

24 

IO 

o 

3 

61 

Tons  displacement 

96,510 

30,030 

10,870 

7,Qoo 

208,210 

106 

eg 

26 

Over  iS  knots: 

iyu 

0° 

J/  D 

Number  .... 

9 

II 

S 

9 

6t 

Tons  displacement 

46,660 

4,980 

57,26o 

71  310 

232,800 

« 

107 

5 

56 

72 

334 

The  largest  vessels  included  in  the  British  2O-knot 
list  are  the  " Blake  "  and  "Blenheim,"  of  9,000  tons, 
and  22  knots  speed,  with  p^-inch  guns.  France's 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  185 

largest  are  the  "  Dupuy  de  Lome "  and  "  Amiral 
Jaures,"  of  6,300  tons  and  20  knots  speed.  Ger- 
many has  two  small  torpedo-catchers  of  22  knots, 
and  Italy  several  of  21  knots,  while  Austria  has  three 
of  23  knots  speed.  Spain  has  the  "  Reina  Regente*," 
of  21  knots  speed,  and  two  sister  ships.  It  seems 
that  sixteen  merchant-vessels  are  able  to  steam  over 
19  knots,  several  of  them  at  21  knots.  Of  this 
number  nine  are  Atlantic  vessels,  three  Hamburg- 
American  liners,  two  White  Star,  two  Inman,  and 
two  Cunard  liners,  while  the  remainder  are  paddle- 
steamers  on  the  Channel,  —  eight  between  England 
and  the  Continent,  and  two  to  the  Isle  of  Man. 
Several  steamers  have  since  been  added  to  the  list. 

Among  the  most  famous  of  the  great  steamers  of 
recent  years,  —  the  "ocean  greyhounds,"  as  they 
have  been  well  named,  —  are  the  Cunard  steamers 
"Umbria"  and  "  Etruria ;  "  the  still  faster  vessels  of 
the  Inman  line,  — the  •*  City  of  New  York"  and  the 
"  City  of  Paris ;  "  and  the  later  ships  of  the  White 
Star  line, —  the  "  Majestic >;  and  the  "Teutonic." 
They  are  all  ships  of  8,000  to  10,000  tons  burden,  and 
of  from  15,000  to  20,000  horse-power.  The  "City 
of  Paris,"  for  example,  cost  to  build  over  ,£350,000, 
or  about  $1,750,000.  Her  length  is  580  feet,  and 
breadth  of  beam  63  feet,  while  her  two  complete  sets 
of  engines  are  of  the  triple  expansion  type,  and  of 
about  20.000  horse-power.  A  manufacturing  estab- 
lishment requiring  engines  of  1,000  horse-power  is 
considered  a  great  enterprise,  but  this  steamer's  en- 
gines are  nearly  twenty  times  as  great.  The  con- 


i86 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


OCEAN  STEAMERS.  187 

sumption  of  fuel  averages  about  350  tons  a  day.  She 
has  a  crew  of  370  men,  and  accommodations  for  1,450 
passengers.  One  thousand  electric  lamps  are  required 
to  furnish  light.  This  wonderful  vessel  has  crossed 
the  Atlantic  repeatedly  in  less  than  six  days,  and  per- 
haps with  the  exception  of  the  "Teutonic  "  has  held 
a  first  place  among  the  fastest  steamers  on  the  ocean 
up  to  the  present  time  (1891). 

The  sister  ships  "  Teutonic  "  and  "  Majestic  "  are 
of  about  16,000  tons  displacement,  —  that  is,  their 
weight  at  sea  is  that  amount,  —  and  are  the  fastest 
ships  in  a  fleet  of  about  85,000  tons  total  belonging 
to  one  company.  The  "Teutonic"  has  made  the 
trip  from  Queenstown  to  New  York  in  five  days,  nine- 
teen hours,  and  five  minutes,  at  a  speed  averaging 
20. 2  knots,  or  about  23.25  miles  an  hour,  —  a  speed 
only  rivalled  by  the  sister  ship  and  by  the  "  City  of 
Paris,"  which  made  its  fastest  trip  in  five  days,  nine- 
teen hours,  and  nineteen  minutes.  These  ships  are 
of  10,000  tons  burden,  registered,  and  their  engines 
are  of  17,000  horse-power.  They  are  582  feet  long, 
57!  feet  wide,  and  39  J-  feet  deep,  of  finest  steel  for 
ship  construction,  and  can  carry  over  1,300  passen- 
gers, 3,000  tons  of  fuel,  and  4,000  tons  of  cargo. 
There  are  twenty-five  engineers,  sixty  firemen,  and 
forty-eight  coal-passers  or  trimmers,  with  supernume- 
raries, etc.,  which  bring  up  the  total  engineer's  roll  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty- eight  persons.  The  crew  con- 
sists of  about  forty  men.  There  are  twenty-five  cooks 
and  sixty  "  stewards."  A  full  passenger-list  gives  a  total 
of  about  sixteen  hundred  persons  on  board  when  at  sea. 


i88 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


The  engines  of  these  great  ships  are  of  the  triple- 
expansion  variety,  two  independent  sets  being  em- 
ployed to  drive  twin  screws.  Their  condensers 
contain  twenty  miles  of  brass  tubes.  The  fires  are 
forced  by  blowing-fans,  which  in  the  aggregate  — 


Fig.  24.  —  The  "  Henry  Grace  De  Dieu,"  and  the  "  Great  Eastern/' 

fourteen  in  number  —  are  capable  of  supplying  about 
225,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute.  One  hundred 
and  twenty  tons  of  water  are  converted  into  steam 
each  hour,  and  at  a  pressure  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty  pounds  per  square  inch. 


THE   OUTLOOK.  189 

This  would  be  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  a  city 
of  over  twenty-five  thousand  people,  allowing  twenty- 
five  gallons  per  day  to  each.  About  320  tons  of  fuel 
are  required  to  convert  the  water  into  steam,  each 
day,  and  the  air  needed  for  its  combustion  weighs 
about  275  tons.  In  the  condensation  of  the  steam 
about  4,000  tons  of  sea- water  are  passed  through  the 
condensers  every  hour,  —  the  equivalent  of  the  water- 
supply  to  a  city  of  three-quarters  of  a  million  people. 

The  outlook,  in  the  direction  of  higher  speeds  and 
better  accommodation  in  river  and  ocean  navigation, 
judged  by  the  knowledge  which  we  now  possess  and 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  engineer,  may  be  said  to 
be,  practically,  to-day,  what  it  has  been  for  many 
years,  —  a  gradual  and  steady,  though  probably  now 
comparatively  slow,  progress  in  both  directions.  The 
gradual  increase  of  size  of  vessel,  of  power  of  machin- 
ery, and  the  improvement  in  form  of  the  ship's  lines, 
may  be  expected  to  go  on,  more  and  more  slowly  as 
we  approximate  more  and  more  toward  a  limit  set  by 
Nature  to  further  extension  and  to  that  continually 
met  with  in  the  financial  problem  involved.  As  the 
costs  of  such  growth  increase  in  a  high  ratio,  it  is 
always  the  fact  that  it  will  not  pay,  at  any  given  mo- 
ment, to  very  greatly  increase  speeds  or  improve 
accommodations ;  but  the  state  of  the  art  of  steam- 
navigation  now  reached  is  such  that  it  is  not  likely 
that  many  will  be  found  to  mourn  the  fact  that  we 
advance  no  more  rapidly.  As  the  writer  has  elsewhere 
remarked  ^  — 

I  The  Forum,  1888,— Jt  Form  and  Speed  of  Ships." 


190  ROBERT  FULTON. 

"The  primary  conditions  are  very  readily  deter- 
mined and  specified ;  but  the  working  out  of  these 
conditions  to  a  satisfactory  result  involves  the  appli- 
cation of  principles  which  are  the  fruit  of  some  of  the 
most  abstruse  mathematical  investigations,  of  the  most 
ingenious  and  elaborate  systems  of  experiment,  and 
of  the  most  extended  and  varied  experience.  In  cer- 
tain directions  we  are  to-day  probably  very  near  the 
limit  of  perfect  construction ;  but  the  conditions  con- 
trolling the  problem  are  so  different  where  different 
ends  are  sought,  and  these  differences  lead  to  such 
apparently  opposite  lines  of  improvement,  and  to  such 
varied  forms  of  vessel,  that  it  has  been,  and  still  Is,  to 
a  certain  extent,  very  difficult  to  reach  correct  for- 
mulas of  application ;  and  probably  few  naval  archi- 
tects have  been  able  to  acquire  very  distinct  views  of 
the  best  principles  of  design  for  specified  purposes." 

The  obvious  conditions  of  maximum  speed,  irre- 
spective of  other  desiderata,  as  comfort,  handiness, 
ease  in  a  seaway,  stability  (all  which  must  be  consid- 
ered to  a  greater  or  less  extent  by  the  naval  architect 
in  designing  a  vessel),  are  — 

1 i )  Maximum  power  in  a  given  weight  and  space. 

(2)  Minimum  weight  and  volume  of  vessel. 

(3)  Minimum  frictional  and   other   resistance   of 
wetted  surfaces. 

(4)  Maximum  perfection  of  form,  having  reference 
to  the  resistances  to  forward  motion,  and  to  lateral 
drift. 

In  the  steam  vessel  "  stiffness  "  is  unimportant ;  and 
stability  becomes  essential  only  as  affecting  the  motion 


THE   OUTLOOK.  191 

of  the  ship  in  a  seaway,  and-  in  giving  safety  against 
excessive  rolling,  or  against  overturn. 

To  state  these  principles  more  in  detail :  maxi- 
mum power  is  obtained  by  designing  light,  powerful, 
and  efficient  engines  and  boilers,  and  by  applying 
their  energy  to  the  instrument  of  propulsion  in  such 
manner  as  to  lose  the  least  possible  proportion  in 
friction  and  wasteful  agitation  of  the  water.  The 
machinery  must  be  as  light  as  is  consistent  with 
strength  and  safety,  and  must  be  driven  at  as  high 
speed,  and  under  as  high  pressure  as  is  practicable ; 
while  economy  in  the  use  of  steam  and  fuel  is  a  hardly 
less  important  condition  of  excellence.  Minimum 
weight  and  volume  of  vessel  are  secured  in  the  case 
of  the  steamer,  by  reduction  to  a  minimum  of  weights 
carried,  and  by  the  surrender  of  the  space  which  is 
ordinarily  claimed  for  comforts  and  conveniences.  In 
both  forms  of  vessel  the  material  used  in  construction 
determines,  to  a  great  extent,  what  can  be  accom- 
plished in  this  direction.  The  increased  use  of  iron 
and  steel  is  bringing  in  much  lighter  hulls  than  could 
possibly  have  been  made  in  wood,  and  has  given  a 
degree  of  strength  and  safety  which  the  wooden  hull 
never  possessed,  and  never  could  attain.  The  results 
of  study  of  the  forms  of  fishes,  as  developed  by  the 
Great  Architect  of  Nature,  with  perfect  adaptation  to 
his  purposes,  and  the  comparison  of  the  shapes  of  the 
best  ship-forms  yet  produced  by  human  ingenuity  and 
skill,  seem  to  the  author  to  indicate  that  we  have 
attained  such  perfection  of  form  and  proportion  that 
no  very  great  or  rapid  advance  is  reasonably  to  be 


192  ROBERT  FULTON. 

expected  in  the  near  future,  and  that  the  problem  of 
the  fast  vessel  is  substantially  solved ;  while  further 
advances  in  speed  must  be  expected  mainly  to  come 
of  devices  for  increasing  propelling  power,  of  new 
methods  of  securing  lightness  combined  with  stability, 
and  perhaps,  most  of  all,  by  increasing  size  of  ship,  as 
we  have  seen  the  size  of  ocean  steamers  increased. 
The  limit  of  speed  for  vessels  of  usual  sizes,  whether 
using  sail  or  steam,  would  seem  to  be  already  very 
nearly  reached.  Every  gain  now  made  must  proba- 
bly be  made  only  by  the  application  of  extraordinary 
care  and  skill,  under  the  guidance  of  sound  judgment 
and  large  experience. 


INDEX. 


AQUEDUCT  improvements,  by  Ful- 
ton, 63. 
Armored  vessels,  Fulton's,  157. 


BERNOULLI'S  screw-propeller,  29. 
Bridge  improvement,  by  Fulton, 
62. 


CLERMONT,  building  the,  101-126. 
Collins  Line,  starting  the,  171. 
Compound   Engine,    construction, 

180. 
Cunard  Line,  organization  of  the, 

171. 

DEATH  of  Fulton,  140. 
Diving-boat  of  Fulton,  73. 

ENGINE,  steam,  compound,  180. 
Hero's  5  ;  Marquis  of  Worces- 
ter's, 8 ;  Newcomen's,  15;  Sav- 
ery's,  9  ;  Watt's,  20. 

Ericsson's  vessels,  174. 

Experiments  with  steam,  by  Ful- 
ton, 101. 

FERRY-BOATS,    Fulton's    steam, 

137. 
Fitch's  steamboat,  33-36. 


Fleets,  modern,  146-183. 

Fulton  as  aqueduct  builder,  63  ; 
artist,  48-52  ;  author,  55  ;  bridge 
constructor,  62  ;  engineer,  60  ; 
inventor  in  submarine  warfare, 
69  ;  statesman,  58  ;  death  of, 
140  ;  diving-boat,  73  ;  early  life, 
48 ;  education,  49 ;  experiments 
on  ship  resistance,  in  ;  with 
steam,  101  ;  firing  guns  under 
water,  79 ;  first  steamboat,  103  ; 
in  London,  53  ;  inventing  canal 
improvements,  54;  letter  to  Jef- 
ferson, 79  ;  list  of  his  steamboats, 
135  ;  not  the  inventor  of  the 
steamboat,  i  ;  on  torpedo  war- 
fare, 93.;  steam  ferry-boats,  137  ; 
system  of  ship-railways,  14 ;  the 
Clermont,  101-126  ;  torpedoes, 

95- 

Fulton's  armored  vessel,  138. 
Fulton  the  First,  the  war-steamer, 

138. 

GUNS,  plan  of  firing  under  water, 
79- 

HENRY'S  steamboat,  29. 
Hero's  steam-engine,  5. 

JOUFFROY'S  steamboat,  44. 


194 


INDEX. 


LEGENDS  of  the  steam-engine,  i. 
Lord  Dundas's  steamboat,  43. 

MARQUIS  of  Worcester's  engine,  8. 
Millar,  Taylor,  and  Symmington's 

steamboat,  41. 

Modern  steam  fleets,  146-183. 
Mowry's  steamboat,  40. 


NAUTILUS,  Fulton's,  76. 
Navigation,  ocean  and  river,    146- 

149 ;  submarine,  69. 
New  York,  description  of  the,  159. 


OCEAN  and  river   steamers,  146  : 

steamers,  168. 
Outlook  in  steam-navigation,  189. 


PAPIN'S  steamboat,  28. 
Principles  of  ship-propulsion.  189. 
Propellers,  screw,  174. 
Puritan,  description  of  the,  162. 


RIVER  and  ocean  steamers,  146  I 

navigation,  149. 
Rumsey's  steamboat j  34. 

SCREW,  Bernouilli's,  34 ;  propul- 
sion, 174. 


Ship-railways,  Fulton's  plans,  64. 

Ship  resistance,  Fulton  onr  in. 

Smith's  screw-propeller,  174. 

Speed  of  ships,  requisites,  189-192. 

Steamboat,  Babcock  and  Thurs- 
ton's,  157;  D'Auxiron's,  43; 
Fitch's,  33-36  ;  Fulton  not  its 
inventor,  i  ;  Fulton's  first,  103 ; 
Fulton's  list  of  boats,  135  ; 
Growth  of,  in  Great  Britain,  156 ; 
Growth  of  in  United  States,  149 ; 
Henry's,  30  ;  Hulls's,  29 ;  Jouf- 
froy's,  44  ;  Lord  Dundas's,  43  ; 
Millar,  Taylor,  and  Symming- 
ton's, 41  ;  Mowry's,  40;  P6rier's, 
44  ;  Roosevelt's,  46  ;  Rumsey's 
34  ;  Stevens's,  41,  116,  149  ; 
Thurston  and  Babcock's,  157. 

Steam  fleets,  modern,  146-183. 

Steam-engine,  —  See  ENGINE. 

Steamers,  modern,  167  ;  ocean, 
146  ;  river,  146. 

Stevens,  John,  his  steamboat,  116; 
Robert  L.,  inventions  of,  149- 
154. 

Submarine  navigation,  69. 

TORPEDO  warfare,  90. 
Thurston    and    Babcock's    steam- 
boat, 157. 


WATT'S  condenser,  22  ;  double- 
acting  engine,  25  ;  experiments, 
22  ;  inventions,  23. 


MAKERS   OF  AMERICA. 


The  following  is  a  list  of  the  subjects  and  authors  so 
far  arranged  for  in  this  series.  The  volumes  will 
be  published  at  the  uniform  price  of  $1.00,  and 
will  appear  in  rapid  succession :  — 

Christopher  Columbus  (1436-1506),  and  the  Discov- 
ery of  the  New  World.  By  CHARLES  KENDALL 
ADAMS,  President  of  Cornell  University. 

John  Winthrop  (1588-1649),  First  Governor  of 
the  Massachusetts  Colony.  By  Rev.  JOSEPH  H. 
TWICHELL. 

Robert  Morris  (1734-1806),  Superintendent  of  Finance 
under  the  Continental  Congress.  By  Prof.  WILLIAM 
G.  SUMNER,  of  Yale  University. 

James  Edward  Oglethorpe  (1689-1785),  and  the  Found- 
ing of  the  Georgia  Colony.  By  HENRY  BRUCE, 
Esq. 

John  Hughes,  D.D.  (1797-1864),  First  Archbishop  of 
New -York  :  a  Representative  American  Catholic. 
By  HENRY  A.  BRANN,  D.D. 

Robert  Fulton  (1765-1815):  His  Life  and  its  Results. 
By  Prof.  R.  H.  THURSTON,  of  Cornell  University. 


2  MAKERS    OF   AMERICA. 

Francis  Higginson  (1587-1630),  Puritan.  Author  of 
"  New  England's  Plantation,"  etc.  By  THOMAS  W. 
HIGGINSON. 

Peter  Stuyvesant  (1602-1682),  and  the  Dutch  Settle- 
ment of  New -York.  By  BAYARD  TUCKERMAN, 
Esq.,  author  of  a  "Life  of  General  Lafayette," 
editor  of  the  "  Diary  of  Philip  Hone, "  etc.,  etc. 

Thomas  Hooker  (1586-1647),  Theologian,  Founder  of 
the  Hartford  Colony.  By  GEORGE  L.  WALKER, 
D.D. 

Charles  Sumner  (1811-1874),  Statesman.  By  ANNA 
L.  DAWES. 

Thomas  Jefferson  (1743-1826),  Third  President  of  the 
United  States.  By  JAMES  SCHOULER,  Esq.,  author 
of  "A  History  of  the  United  States  under  the 
Constitution." 

William  White  (1748-1836),  Chaplain  of  the  Continen- 
tal Congress,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  President  of 
the  Convention  to  organize  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  America.  By  Rev.  JULIUS  H.  WARD, 
with  an  Introduction  by  Right  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter, 
D.D.,  Bishop  of  New- York. 

Jean  Baptiste  Lemoine,  sieur  de  Bienville  (1680-1768), 
French  Governor  of  Louisiana,  Founder  of  New 
Orleans.  By  GRACE  KING,  author  of  "  Monsieur 
Motte." 

Alexander  Hamilton  (1757-1804),  Statesman,  Finan- 
cier, Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  By  Prof.  WILLIAM 
G.  SUMNER,  of  Yale  University. 

Cotton  Mather  (1663-1728),  Theologian,  Author,  Be- 
liever in  Witchcraft  and  the  Supernatural.  By  Prof. 
BARRETT  WENDELL,  of  Harvard  University: 


MAKERS    OF   AMERICA.  3 

Robert  Cavelier,  sieur  de  La  Salle  (1643-1687),  Ex- 
plorer of  the  Northwest  and  the  Mississippi.  By 
EDWARD  G.  MASON,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Histori- 
cal Society  of  Chicago,  author  of  *'  Illinois"  in  the 
Commonwealth  Series. 

Thomas  Nelson  (1738-1789),  Governor  of  Virginia, 
General  in  the  Revolutionary  Army,  Embracing  a 
Picture  of  Virginian  Colonial  Life.  By  THOMAS 
NELSON  PAGE,  author  of  "Mars  Chan,"  and  other 
popular  stories. 

George  and  Cecilius  Calvert,  Barons  Baltimore  of 
Baltimore  (1605-1676),  and  the  Founding  of  the 
Maryland  Colony.  By  WILLIAM  HAND  BROWNE, 
editor  of  "  The  Archives  of  Maryland." 

Sir  William  Johnson  (1715-1774),  and  The  Six  Na- 
tions. By  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS,  D.D.,  author 
of  "  The  Mikado's  Empire,"  etc. ,  etc. 

Sam.  Houston  (1793-1862),  and  the  Annexation  of 
Texas.  By  HENRY  BRUCE,  Esq. 

Joseph  Henry,  LL.D.  (1797-1878),  Savant  and  Natural 
Philosopher.  By  FREDERIC  H.  BETTS,  Esq. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  By  Prof.  HERMAN  GRIMM, 
author  of  "  The  Life  of  Michael  Angelo,"  "  The  Life 
and  Times  of  Goethe/'  etc. 

DODD,  MEAD,  AND  COMPANY, 

149  and  151  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


vx 
.    UNIVERSITY 

'«&> 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


RWE     OF    25     CENTS 

BE  ASSESSED  H^R  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
|i  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
V/ILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


MAR    2   1933 
MAY     4   11, 


LD 


WAY  1  o 


•&&&& 


DAVIS 
INTERUBRARY 


DEC  19  1972 

WAR    7  km  4 

pC'D  CIRC  D^PT     MAR  2 


R2TURKEO  TO 

MAR  2  3  1971 

WAN  DEPARTMENT 


LCAH 


9t 


SEXTON  ILL 

MAY  1  7  1996 

U.  C. 


